#And Kai just going around being the dumb guy is offensive when he is my fav character

[just2bubbly]

I hate when everyone puts Kai into hufflepuff like guys do we legit forget that he is THE EMPEROR OF THE ENTIRE EASTERN COMMONWEALTH and with the way he is diplomatic and intelligent and so in love with a simple life and everything around him he should be a Ravenclaw

[sodasback]

Origin Story - Part 3

ER Nurse Rafe x ER Nurse Reader

Part 1 Part 2 

Warnings: Unprofessional work environment stuff. Alcohol consumption. Cursing. Unedited, will go through and edit later.

Not my photo. All credit to owner/creator. <3

The next couple weeks you focused on being a new nurse in the Emergency Department. Your life was filled with shifts with a preceptor and tons of classes and trainings. 

You were thankful for being so busy because otherwise you would be constantly ruminating on the night at Crazy 8′s and what you said to Rafe. You can’t believe how drunk you got in front of your brand new coworkers and how shamelessly you flirted with Rafe. And the worst part was: you didn’t know how he took it. Really the last time you said more than a couple words to each other was when he started your IV that next morning. It seemed like everything was okay, but you flushed every time you saw him on the floor. And then you’d curse at yourself for having such a crush on a guy. 

-

You were by yourself in the med room, finishing up at the Pyxis, pulling meds for your patient when Rafe walked in. 

“Hey Y/L/N, I feel like every time I see you, you’re running around. How’re you doing?��� Rafe asked, taking your spot at the Pyxis. 

“Doing good!” You told him, almost too enthusiastically. “How are you?” 

Rafe let out a little chuckle at your new formality with him. “I’m good.” 

You hesitated for a second looking at Rafe’s back while he faced the Pyxis, wondering if you should bring up what you were thinking. 

“Listen, Rafe.” He turned around once he heard the serious tone in your voice, causing you to look down for a second before meeting his gaze again. “I want everyone here to see me as competent and I want to maintain everyone’s respect, including your’s. ...so that night at the bar, when you took me home I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m just really embarrassed that I-” 

“Y/N, you don’t have to say anything. Everyone here has had a night at Crazy 8′s and you didn’t say anything that night that you should worry about, okay? I already know you’re a badass nurse who’s more competent then some of our seasoned RNs. You have all of our respect, including mine.” 

You smiled at him and nodded. 

You started to turn away, but then stopped yourself, “But didn’t I kinda throw myself at you when you brought me to my apartment?” You asked, putting your hand to your forehead and scrunching your eyes shut, only peeking at him when you heard him chuckle breathlessly. 

“Uhh, yeah, you might have tried to flirt a little. But like I said, you didn’t say anything I didn’t want to hear.” He looked you in the eyes, trying to gauge your reaction.

Your lips parted and you opened your mouth to speak, when your preceptor for the day popped her head in. “Y/N, come on, bed 12 is going for CT.” 

-

The following weekend was Edgar’s birthday which brought everyone back to Crazy 8′s that Friday night. You were determined to go and only maintain a slight buzz and classy behavior the entire night to make up for the last time you were at the ED crew’s favorite bar. 

The night started out with everyone buying Edgar shots and of course, Edgar dancing the night away. At one point, Edgar and you were out on the dance floor with everyone else. The birthday boy had a cocktail in hand he was sipping from. You didn’t notice, but as the two of you danced, Edgar saw his best friend behind you. Edgar mischievous grin grew on his face before forcefully twirled you away from him and into Rafe’s chest. 

“Woah, watch where you’re twirling Rookie. If you wanted to dance, you could have just asked, you didn’t have to tackle me.” He teased.

You rolled your eyes, “You flatter yourself too much Cameron. You can thank your bestie over there for launching me into you.” As you let Rafe grab your hand and twirl you around. 

“Oh, don’t worry I will.” He smirked, and nodded at Edgar who made an obscene gesture that the 2 of you just laughed at. 

The two of you continued to dance for a few songs and it was innocent enough, until a sensual song came on. Your hands had a mind of their own as they moved to rest on Rafe’s shoulders and his settled on your waist. 

As the song continued and the alcohol coursed through your veins, you felt your inhibitions fading as your fingers laced together behind his neck and he pulled you closer as his hands gripped lower on your waist and the small of your back, dangerously close to your ass. Your smiles both faded as you looked into his eyes and your lips parted. 

The song was coming to an end. “I think I need some air” You whispered, still looking in Rafe’s eyes. He looked toward the balcony patio and turned, firmly holding your hand, pulling you behind him and maneuvering his way through the crowd for you. 

The cold air hit you and instantly sobered you a little, which honestly, only made you more sure of your attraction to your new coworker. It also didn’t help that outside was completely empty. It was just the 2 of you. 

Rafe pulled you close to the railing where there was a beautiful view of the city lights. “Better?” He asked as he leaned on the railing. 

You followed suit but shivered at the cold metal hitting your skin coupled with the chill of the outside air. “Yeah. Just a little cold. But good.”

“Here” Rafe said, as he slipped his flannel off. 

“Oh no. It’s okay, I’m fine-” 

“Just put it on Y/N.” Rafe smirked at you. You smiled and slipped it on, not missing the sweet smell of his cologne wrapped around you.

You both leaned on your elbows against the railing and looked out at the view in a moment of silence. 

“So beautiful” you muttered in a blissful tone. 

“Yeah” Rafe agreed quietly, but you turned to see he was looking at you and not the view. Your eyes widened ever so slightly and your mouth dropped open a little. Before you could stop yourself your lips were on his. 

You felt like you had been struck by lightning and you couldn’t stop from moaning softly against Rafe causing him to let out a gentle grunt before you both opened your mouths and deepend the kiss.

The kiss was only getting more passionate when you had a moment of clarity. You pushed at Rafe’s chest and pulled away. “Shit!” You cursed closing your eyes, hitting your palm to your forehead and turning away from Rafe.

“Y/N-“ Rafe tried to stop your impending freak out he already knew was coming.

“I’m such an idiot!” You exclaimed. “I can’t believe I’m making out with my coworker I’ve known for what? Like 3 weeks?!”

“Hey! Relax. It’s fine.” Rafe tried again.

“Of course you think it’s fine! Every girl at work probably throws themselves at you! And now you think I’m just another-“

“Y/N!” Rafe grabbed your shoulders, “Chill! I’ve never made a move on a coworker before, so don’t worry about that. And I don’t see you like that. You’re not just some girl.”

“Rafe we barely know each other!” You reminded him,  “Can we just forget this happened please?!” You asked exasperated and still freaking out. You didn’t miss the disappointment flood Rafe’s face, but you were too freaked out and buzzed to do anything about it.

“Yeah, of course.” he agreed easily. 

You shuffled your feet back and forth and took a deep breath.

“Are we good? Is it gonna be all awkward now?” You asked, still stressing.

Rafe laughed, “Why ‘cause you’re a bad kisser?” He teased and answered your question for you.

Your mouth dropped open in offense, “Shut up! Take it back!”

“Make me!” Rafe furrowed his brow at you. And you punched him in the shoulder.

“Ow! I’m just kidding. Lighten up, Rookie. Yeah, we’re fine. ...Are you good?” He asked, giving your hand a squeeze.

“Good.” You smiled, squeezing back. “Kay, I’m gonna go back in first, okay?” 

And you started to turn, “Wait, Y/N.”

You groaned, “Cameron! Don’t make this harder! We can’t-” 

“I was just gonna say, I kinda need my shirt back, if we’re gonna play this off.” He said. 

You almost died from embarrassment. “Oh yeah! Right, right right! I’m so dumb. I’m sorry- I “ 

“Y/N!” Rafe stopped you from going off on a tangent while laughing at your ability to easily fall back into a freak out. 

“Yeah” You agreed and shrugged off his flannel, handing it back to him.

Of course, you panicked when you got home and tossed and turned worrying about what happened between you and Rafe.

Then, you got a text message from an unknown number

Unknown #: Stop worrying about it.

You knew it was Rafe, but you didn’t have his number saved. 

You: How do you have my phone number, stalker?

Rafe: We have unit directory, Rookie.

You: Likely story. How’d you know I was worrying?

Rafe: Lucky guess ;) We can forget it happened 

Rafe: ...if you want to.

You stomach dropped and you took a second before you dialed Rafe’s number. 

“Hey” He greeted. 

“What if I don’t want to forget it happened?” You asked. 

[whatiwillsay]

kaylor oomfs avert your eyes 😞

i get asked from time to time “why don’t you like kaylor, why don’t you like karlie, why do you think kaylor isn’t together? why aren’t you and ttb married yet?” and i think it’s high time i centralize my thoughts and receipts on all of that in a little timeline of shady things karlie has done to taylor that have made me wary of kaylor/karlie/that whole situation.  don’t read if you stan kaylor this isn’t for you (unless you know you’re interested in the truth.)

first things first, i do think something romantic happened between kaylor go read @swiftiesleuth‘s realistic kay timeline for what i (generally) think happened between them.

but long story short - i think joshlie is real, i think they weren’t all that serious at the beginning, she famously didn’t meet his family for years, he didn’t take her to work events for a long time, so there’s room for her to have a fling with taylor even though we ended up with a real joshlie endgame.

taylor’s music and art supports this theory - in the wd mv she paints herself as the other woman, on rep she sings of secret sexy sex with her best friend that drives her crazy, in cruel summer she sings of a miserable, secret, and toxic situation with a person who rejects her love, in illicit affairs and august again she is the other woman - the art matches up.  she also sings about her sunshine being gone on lover, and eclipsed on folklore. we have good clues in taylor’s artistic expression.

taylor’s given interviews about some of these karlie songs - she said cruel summer was about the start to a “doomed” relationship and look at what she said about august:

“It kind of explores the idea of the undefined relationship. As humans, we're all encouraged to just be cool and just let it happen, and don't ask what the relationship is — Are we exclusive? But if you are chill about it, especially when you're young, you learn the very hard lesson that if you don't define something, oftentimes they can gaslight you into thinking it was nothing at all, and that it never happened. And how do you mourn the loss of something once it ends, if you're being made to believe that it never happened at all?”

if joshlie is real which i think they are that 100% sounds like taylor having to process being gaslit by karlie while she cheats on josh with her.

so why do i think joshlie is real?

-  josh has no credible gay rumors that didn’t originate on gaylor tumblr: he has old ex gfs that came before karlie, harvard message boards gossiped about him and didn’t like him but never said that he was gay, in fact one of the complaints josh’s schoolmates had about him was that he got special treatment for her girlfriend at parties.

-  as stated before taylor’s art suggests she’s been the other woman with someone in her life recently.  if josh and karlie are beards then what is the affair? why is taylor the other woman so often all of a sudden?

-  i’ve spoken to someone with a mutual friend with the kushners - grain of salt of course, i know you can only trust stuff you hear from me with no proof so much, but i do absolutely trust this person and they say - no way in hell is joshlie fake, no way in hell is josh gay, no way in hell is karlie having taylor’s baby.  also karlie absolutely has moved down to miami with josh.  i’m sure we’ll see her in nyc and la from time to time but she is living in miami now.

-  vicky ward, who is a real investigative journalist not some unhinged person on tumblr, wrote a tell all about the kushners.  she uncovered gay rumors about josh’s father and josh’s brother but not josh.  she had actual sources and was legitimately digging up tons of dirt on these people and not a word about josh being gay or joshlie being fake.

-  yes karlie did convert to judaism.  it’s really offensive to suggest she didn’t.  of course she always could have done it for personal reasons but occam’s razor dictates she did it for josh i don’t know what else to tell you 🤷‍♀️

-  also just vibes.  karlie writes him love notes and leaves them with his breakfast.  they make playlists for one another.  if the kushners weren’t so heinous they’d be cute.

so in the joshlie is real world view i inhabit, i don’t stan kaylor the same way i do swiftgron because i don’t think kaylor was ever a committed monogamous relationship.  important and impactful on taylor’s life? absolutely.  inspired some amazing music? 100%. but was is true and tragic love that drives me insane and makes me feral?  no.  i don’t believe so.  is it still an interesting and iconic ship? yes!  but i don’t stan because it wasn’t like...true love or gay shit like that.

so let’s talk about karlie’s screwups that 1. assure me kaylor is not together and 2. make me have no desire to stan karlie/kaylor.

1.  after the kimye drama (something that deeply traumatized taylor we now know thanks to miss americana) karlie said she was sure kim was a lovely person 😭 now i know she walked it back and tweeted she and taylor had one another’s backs. i know karlie was just trying to be diplomatic.  but come on...if someone did what kim did to taylor to my lover or hell even just my friend i would say “fuck that clout chasing fame whore” bottom line.  c’mon guys.  have higher standards for your otp.

karlie also has vibed with kim on IG about her adidasas line.  recently!  yes i know she’s just promoting her brand but c’mon.  taylor still hates kim, their drama got rehashed in march 2020 and just 6 months later kim n karlie are bestie-ing around on ig.

2.  ALL the fucking masters drama and scooter fucking braun

-  not long at all after the masters heist karlie was palling around with scooter on a yacht like come on the only other thing taylor is equally as traumatized over as the kimye drama is the master’s heist.  why is karlie hanging out with him and partying with him at this time?

-  karlie liked a tweet completely incinerating taylor (in a gross and unfair/inaccurate way) regarding the masters heist.  she unliked it but still.  why was she even looking at that shit.

-  and yeah we gotta talk about perez.  so perez hilton (who is a scumbag and gross but sometimes does have legitimate tea) posted a video saying that karlie and taylor were no longer friends because karlie betrayed taylor to scooter.  now if that were all there was to it, it’d be dumb gossip.  but a taylor fan account posted the video to twitter ashley avignone and claire winter both liked the tweet.  ashley liked two tweets about it.  perez proceeded to tweet that since two of taylor’s oldest and truest friends liked the tweets it must mean he was correct and neither of the girls unliked the tweets.  ashley and claire are low key people, not celebs, not pawns in a “fued narrative”, just long time and loyal friends of taylor’s.  they liked the tweet, imo, because there’s some truth to it.

-  that brings me to spencer pratt.  spencer is a reality star and super swiftie/huge fan of taylor’s.  he despises karlie.  he’s tweeted negatively about her and he also had perez onto his podcast to talk about the drama between karlie and taylor.  taylor herself sent him a cardigan.  do you really think taylor is going to allow a cardigan to go out to the guy who’s dragging her girlfriend or bestie? i don’t think so.  receipts on perez and spencer here.

3.  karlie posted for hailey fucking beiber’s bday instead of taylor’s and hailey hates taylor 🤢🤢🤢

4.  karlie married into a fascist family that is associated with the trumps.  like how can you expect me to stan?  trump is a fucking criminal evil piece of shit.  i know karlie isn’t like him (probably) but it’s still awful.  kimby even goes around liking ivanka’s ig posts like give me a fucking break 😭.

in summation, you can disagree w me all you like, you can ship kaylor all you like, but if you’re of sound mind i don’t think you can look at the facts in this post and think i’m misguided for not being a kaylor/karlie stan.  and you can’t blame me for thinking if you spend a lot of time obsessing over that ship you may not really be that big a fan of taylor’s.  and if you’re spending a lot of time leading lgbt kids on to think they’re going to get a kaylor end game when all the objective facts of the case suggest that that’s never going to happen you might need to reevaluate but at the very least you certainly can’t press me for not doing all that.

[girlwithshipsshitshow]

Part 20

(Eri got off the train walking the ten blocks to Rose’s house, after she parted with the boys she went back to their house got her stuff, (she had an extra extra  she wasn’t dumb, but she would give it back to Usagi, he didn’t want her to have it, but she was glad she did today), she then made her way to the train that led Rose’s house. She just gotten a text from her saying she was getting off work in an hour, so Eri was going to surprise her with a simple meal of shrimp fried rice, it wouldn't be much, but it was something. Eri smiled to herself as she unlocked the door, placed her things down and started the meal. She decided to video call the boys to see how their day went. 

Misaki: Hey Eri.

Eri: (Squints), Where are ya’ll

Usagi: HI, we’re at a diner

Eri: Why?

Usagi: This is where we were meeting Takahiro, we got into a fight and-

Misaki: Things didn’t end well and we ended up staying here talking about what we want our new house to look like. (he smiled kissing Usagi on the cheek). So what are you up too? 

Eri: Cooking shrimp fried rice for Rose and I, she should be home soon. 

Usagi: Cool, speaking off home, Misaki and I should get going, we’ve been here for almost two hours, you two have fun.

Misaki: Bye Eri!, say hi to Rose for us!.

(The two hung up and Eri went back to cooking, she was just finishing plating when Rose walked in the door)

Rose: Wow, it smells amazing in here. (She walked over to Eri giving her a small kiss or her cheek). Hi

Eri: Hi, I missed you, how has work been? (She turned around wrapping her arms around Rose’s neck).

Rose: Good, what have you been up too? (she pressed her lips to Eri’s, smiling against her lips).

Eri: Hanging with the boys.

Rose: how are they?

Eri: Okay, there’s some stuff going on, but they can handle it. (smiles), so are you hungry?

Rose: Yeah!, 

(the two walk over to the high-top counter, digging into the amazing meal Eri made, talking about the time they spent apart, they missed each other a lot, and were glad to be back in each others presence).

(Manami stood with her finger hovering above the intercom button, Mahiro was running around the lobby, he was excited, he wanted to see his uncle).

Mahiro: Mommy, hurry!

Manami: Mahiro, give me a second honey. (She sighed pressing the button on the intercom, Usagi answered, his laugh dying down).

Usagi: Manami?, what are you doing here? 

Manami: Takahiro said some really offensive stuff, can we stay here awhile? 

Usagi: Sure, come on up. 

(Usagi unlocked the door, Manami stepped back, taking Mahiro’s hand, they were up they elevator and in the penthouse mudroom  in no time, Mahiro ran into the house, without taking off his shoes).

Manami: Mahiro! shoes! (she slid her shoes off taking of after him), She smiled when she saw her son in sitting in Usagi’s lap, Misaki holding the young boys hand. He squirmed while Usagi struggled to take off Mahiro’s shoes). 

Usagi: Mahiro, stay still, I need to take your shoes off.

Mahiro: I wanna play Unagi!

Usagi: Okay, okay. (He finally got the shoes off), but can you put your shoes in the mudroom first?

Mahiro: ‘kay, (He smiled jumping off Usagi’s lap with his shoes, running into the mudroom, coming back into the living room with his backpack full of toys, dumping them onto the floor, they fell everywhere.) Don’t worry.  (He looked at Usagi’s shocked face), I’ll clean up.

Usagi: Okay, thank you.

Mahiro: Welcome. (He picks up a dinosaur, studies it, and begins to draw it). 

Manami: (She finally walks over to the boys), Wow Usami, you look like a real dad.

Misaki: (He smiles, rubbing his leg), Yeah, I think he would be a good dad some day.

Usagi: I just want to prove it to you. 

Misaki: You have time you know, when we have kids, it’ll be after we get married.

Usagi: WHEN 

Misaki: Yeah, (he had tears in his eyes), I think I want to have kids with you.

Usagi: (Grins, He throws his arms around the smaller boy hugging him tightly), I love you.

Misaki: I love you too. (He pulls away, pushing hair out of Usagi’s eyes). You really are amazing. 

Usagi: So are you.

Manami: So, I hate interrupt this moment, but I think I should talk about why I’m here, and you aren’t going to like it so much. 

(They all looked down  at Mahiro, who was still focusing on his drawing of the Dinosaur it looked pretty good for a three and half year old.)  

Usagi: Wow Mahiro, you’re a great artist bud. 

 Mahiro: Thanks. 

Manami: Can we go to the kitchen table to talk? 

(The boys nodded, and they all made their way to the table, leaving Mahiro focused on his work).

Manami: (She folded her hands together, sitting across from the boys), I do I put this gently?  Um, Takahiro doesn’t like you guys together because, He doesn’t like the fact that Misaki is gay.

Usagi: He actually said that?

Manami: Mhmm

Misaki: Okay, (He took Usagi’s hand), We, uh kinda had a feeling, but we weren’t sure. 

Usagi: What else did he say? 

Manami: That Misaki should be normal. 

Misaki: (Clears his throat), Um, I’m going to-uh (he stands up knocking the chair over, making his way over to the balcony, struggling to open the door).

Usagi: (Stands up), Misaki? 

Misaki: (opens door), No, I’m fine, I just need air. (steps out onto the balcony, leaning against the brick wall),

Usagi: (Walks out, standing behind him), Misaki. 

Misaki: I already knew, (turns around, eyes filled with tears), so why does it hurt so much? 

Usagi: Oh, sweetie, (He pulls Misaki to him, running his fingers through his hair),  I’m so sorry, (they sunk to ground against the brick wall, Usagi held him in his arms tightly, while the younger boy sobbed in his chest.) 

Misaki: What, (sobs), are, (sobs), we, (sobs), we, (sobs), gonna, (sobs), do?

Usagi: We’ll figure it out we always do, I know it’s different this time but. (sighs), it’ll be okay.

Misaki: He (Shudders), hurt me. (sobs), hurt us. (leans back, looks at Usagi), Sorry, um- heh.

Usagi: (Wipes Misaki’s eyes), Why are YOU apologizing, it should be your brother. 

Misaki: For crying. 

Usagi: You cry all the time. Like when we make love.

Misaki: (Blushes), It’s beautiful, I can’t help it.

Usagi: (Kisses forehead) I know.

Misaki: But, mostly I’m sorry for acting the same way my brother did in the beginning of our relationship. I was experiencing a lot of  internalized homophobia, I took  it out and you and myself, it took me a while to come to terms with who I really was, and longer to say that I loved you, when I knew I did.  I would  always used the “oh, we’re both Japanese men” as that was an excuse, because it’s not like that would make my feelings for you go away, and even I said I was raised normal. (He shook his head chuckling),  I became fully aware of what I was doing, and admitting to you, and myself that I only want to be with you for the rest of my life, I said that to friends, people we know, your family, my family. I knew my brother would have problem because I was dating you, his best friend, or eh, that you were dating me. His problem his that I’m gay, he needs to deal with that. (He looks up at Usagi), What if he can’t? 

Usagi: (sighs, pulls Misaki closer into his lap), We will deal with that, would you cut him out? 

Misaki: I think we might have to, if he can’t come to terms with me being gay, uh, m- my own happiness. I really hope he comes around. D-d you think that. he just doesn’t like that I’m gay?

Usagi: I don’t know baby. 

Misaki: He had all these ideas for me you know? He wanted me to have a wife, and raise a family, I think that might be what upsets him the most, that I-

Usagi: That you won’t be doing it normally? 

Misaki: Ugh, I hate that word, Normal, what does that even mean now? everyone has their own idea of it. We live in a world, we’re everyone should be accepted for who they are. 

Usagi: Unfortunately, people aren’t so accepting. But our normal is the two of  us getting married, being in love, raising a family. That’s what our idea of being a family is, everyone as their own idea of it, even if people don’t always accept it. I don’t care what someone thinks about us, do you?

Misaki: I used to, but I don’t now, I  just want to be happy, and I truly am. 

Usagi: (Smiles, kisses Misaki on his head hugging him tightly), I love you so much sweetheart). 

Misaki: I love you too.

(Manami put the last of the dishes away, while the boys sat on floor playing with Mahiro, Misaki turned to look at Manami, smiling at her).

Misaki: You didn’t have to do that.

Manami: I know, but I made dinner so I felt like I should do the dishes too.

Misaki: You’re our guest, we should be making diner for you.

Manami: I really  don’t mind. (she grinned, making her way over to the living room floor), Mahiro, It’s time to clean up and take a bath. 

Mahiro: Okay, (he stuffed his toys into his bag, leaving out his stuffed elephant, then stood up taking his moms hand, as the walked into the bathroom).

Usagi: He’s a good kid.

Misaki: I know. (He stood up stretching, picking up the elephant), I’m going to put this in the guest room. 

Usagi: Misaki, (He stood up, taking Misaki’s hand, staring into his eyes, placing his other hand on Misaki’s face he titled his head back softly pressing his lips to his. He pulled away giving a tiny smile), I just love you so much. 

Misaki: I love you babe. 

Usagi: Hey um, (He ran his hands trough Misaki’s hair).

Misaki: (Laughs), Yeah?

Usagi: I just wanted to run my hands through your hair, it’s really soft.

Misaki: I love when you do it, It relaxes me.

Usagi: (He grinned), I know. Um, you can go take that up now.

Misaki: (Giggles), okay. (he sprints up the room as the phone rings).

Usagi: (Walks over to the landline, picking up the phone), Hello... What do you want? 

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Chisaki Kai (nurse)x reader (reader)

{no quirk/simple au; just for know}

I don't know if some of you will remember but I wrote about a nurse Chisaki one month ago; I guess; and I did wanted to make one more writing about it, the person who requested this gave me permission since the original idea was from them so... yeah. Here it is.

Aizawa and Yamada were chatting on the teacher's room along with Nemuri about how the students were or annoying them; mostly Aizawa; or being extremely good at their grades and their improvement.

When you entered the room the three stopped talking as Nemuri called you to thei chatty talk with a smile on her face.

Every teacher from U.A seemed to be in that room but out of everyone you were more closer to these three than anyone else between your colleagues. Okay, Toshinori was also one of them but he wasn't in the room, so... yeah.

"How is it going (L/N)? The second year is giving too much work?" Nemuri asked in excitement while Aizawa and Yamada greeted you.

"After mostly of them are waiting for their grades to come out? They are like tiny quiet little angels. Especially the ones who wouldn't shut up on my classes." You sayed while you picked your coffe and sitted along with the group.

"EH?! You're lucky you know that?!" Yamada yelled "My students won't stay quiet even if they went bad on their english tests!"

"Is mostly because you don't put order in your class." Aizawa muttered before he took a gulp from his own bitter drink while Hizashi gasped in offense.

"Mine's are a little bit aprehensive about their grades but still give me some work... did you expelled yours yet Aizawa?" Nemuri asked arching an eyebrow while smilling sarcastically at her friend, which scoffed in response.

"By the way; I know that doesn't fit the topic calm down before you three throw judgment comments at me." Hizashi chuckled while lifting his hands up before he looked at you and pointed "Is seriously that the teacher from 3-B was fired? The guy refuses to talk about it."

"Oh yeah... there was also a guard of ours that was fired." Aizawa pointed out before he looked at you, surprisingly, interested about the topic "Have any coments to do?"

Before you could even respond; Nemuri beat you to it as she hitted slightly the table with her two hands.

"Oh I know about it! They were caught by missy (L/N) here-" she elbowed you jokingly wiggling her eyebrows "Beating up that new nurse. I guess his name is... ah shit I forgot." She laughed before looking at you with that smirk, expecting you say it.

You sighed in false annoyance before taking a sip from your hot coffee.

"Chisaki, Nemuri. His name is Chisaki Kai."

You knew that she knew it her name, but all of this was just mocking because she already knew your... little information.

"You mean that man? Huh, he doesn't seem like the type to accept a punch without throwing one back... or even worse." Yamada shivered at remembering those golden eyes glaring at him whenever he would speak too loud when passing by the halls.

"He doesn't because he would probably have a few problems to deal with it later. We all know his story in here." Aizawa pointed out, throwing his little bag of coffe perfectly on the trash can not much far away from you guys.

You joked, lifting one of yours arms up with a hand curled up in a fist, saying a heartly 'Score!' Which Aizawa only sighed in dissapointment at your behaviour while the other two laughed.

"Speaking of which, you seem very close to that guy huh? How I wonder..." Yamada smirked before taking a bite from his lunch while Nemuri started to smirk devilish at you while poking your arm repeatedly.

Dear god...

"Yeah, I know him a bit, to not say much." You smiled at remembering him.

"A bit? You're always going to that infirmary." Aizawa pointed out, lifting one of his eyebrows questionably "Or you're just as clusmy as Midoriya or you're at the point of moving in to there."

You chuckled at the first comparation, Midoriya was sure one of the most popular students on the teachers, the boy was the sweetest thing but he... was constantly visiting the infirmary due to his injuries...

You already talked with him billions of times....

"Oh come on Shota! You're acting like you're her father or something!" Joked Hizashi receiving a glare from his friend "I know she is young but chill out!"

"That is true. You're the baby in here (Y/N)!" Nemuri joked while you groaned and frowned at the both.

You were indeed the youngest out of every teacher in the room, but still was just as brilliant as them and always had respect from your colleagues due to your intelligence and your gentle persona...

Although there was a lot of teasing... a lot.

"So~ I tell them? Or you do it yourself?" Nemuri singed while poking your arm again.

"Hush. There's no need for that in the first place..." You got up from your chair and went to throw the trash you made away, greeting with a smile another coworker close to the wall.

Taking advantage of you already being close to the snacks machine, you searched on your pocket for some coins to get something to eat.

"Tell what Nemuri?" Aizawa asked in irritation while Yamada poked his head between them also wanting to hear.

"Well, our little (Y/N) is-"

The door of the room suddenly oppened, catchingthe main three attention while some others already glared at the presence.

Chisaki not even spared a glance at neither of them and just looked around in search for what... who he was looking for.

"Oi! Who said you can enter in here?! This room is only for teachers!" One man yelled coming straight to Chisaki direction before he frooze dead on his pace as soon as Chisaki looked at him with threatening golden murderous eyes.

"In my face is very much evident how I care about this statement right? So get out of sign already." He said with his usual cold and cruel voice as he dodge the man and walked around the room.

"That guy gives me chills." Hizashi whispered while Nemuri nodded.

"Something about him doesn't feel right... and is not only because he is from the yakusa..." Aizawa muttered while discreet looking at Chisaki.

You were to absorved on getting a snack on the machine that you don't even knew why was everyone so silent, but you still wanted that candy bar so fuck it.

Chisaki spoted you and sighed in irritation yet relieve as hs started making his way towards you.

There you were...

Aizawa and Yamada notice the action of his and immediately went to get up to go over to you, but both hands of Nemuri pushed them back down with a smirk.

"What the hell?! The guy looks like he is going to kill her!" Hizashi whisper yelled while for the first time, he hated to admit it, Shota nodded in agreement at his friend comment.

"Chill out you two. Look." She whispered while pointing at the dark brow haired young man standing right behind you with serious eyes as you still tried to pick that damn candy bar.

"You're late." He said, a bit of annoyance and even the slightest hint of hurt in his voice, making you jump at the sudden manifestation of his voice, and so close to collaborate.

"You almost scared the shit out of me! Don't do that!" You said while placing a hand over your heart, which was beating like crazy after his actions.

"Watch your vocabulary; but don't change the topics. You were late, and I acted like a fool waiting and looking for you in this whole hell." He handed you a sandwich, neatly enveloped by plastic, with a glare before he looked in disgust at the machine in front of you both.

"Eat this, its yours anyway. We don't know what those things are made of."

"Ah I must had leaved on the infirmary! Thank you so much!" You smiled at him and gently pried your lunch from his hand.

He scoffed in response as a try to hide the pink on his covered cheeks.

"Wouldn't it make more sense if you let to eat latee since is already close to dinner?" You stopped midway from bringing your sandwich to your mouth after Chisaki numbly spoke.

"Uh... good idea." You smiled in embarrassment before you placed the plastic back and went to pick your purse and work folders.

He followed you right after, waiting despite his impatience while tapping his foot on the ground slightly.

"What the hell?" Yamada whispered while the woman nesides him smirked and whispered to both of her friends

"These two are dating for at least four months by now. Isn't it cute?"

"Cute? She is dating a sociopath ex criminal, and you found it cute?" Aizawa whispered monoustly.

"Hey. You didn't listened the stories that she tells me about him, so hush old man."

"... we have the same age."

"By you guys! See you on monday!" You waved at them while Chisaki hovered over your figurine like a hawks... subsconciously staring at them with his typical boreddom eyes.

You two left the room, leaving everyone; except Nemuri; with mouth agape or at least with wide eyes.

"NO WAY!" Yamada yelled before he lift himself from his chair and poked his head discretely out from the room, Aizawa and Nemuri following right after to sneak a peek.

The three gasped slightly at seing Chisaki, the man they knew for being a fearless and cruel individual and avoided any form of touch like he was the devil running away from the cross of Christ, snake his gloved hand discreetly in yours and hold while you giggled.

"My eyes are hallucinating or..?"

"Your eyes can't hallucinate Mic... but this is new."

"I told you two!"

Chisaki suddenly sended the three a one side death glare, making Yamada and Nemuri yelp in fear while Shota only deadpanned at his dumb friends.

He scoffed and returned his attention to you, muttering in oure irritation.

"Why you talk to those sick people anyway? They doesn't seem worth it not even of your presence."

"They are my coworkers and... friends Kai. I can't just ignore their existence."

"You should." He scoffed, soon sighing in relief at seing you both left the school grounds.

"Anyway, how was work?" You skiled up at him, receiving a sigh of his while he let go of your hand to place his own on his pocket.

"Disgusting, irritating and annoying. Nothing new."

"Hm I see." You mused with a smile.

"... you're free?" He asked, avoiding your curious eyes.

"Have some papers to assign and a few gardes and final tests to make and correct... why?"

"Does it take long?" You looked at your folders and winced at the huge amount...

"A little." You sadly commented, already feeling tired of only looking at them.

He sighed again with a hint of dissapointment before a idea popped into his head.

"You cleaned your appartment?" You deadpanned.

This is what you have to atture when your botfriend is a myshophobic/germophobic...

"Yeah? Only yesterday though, why?" You smiled nervously at his question before stopping by your car.

"...I, well..." he sighed in annoyance before spilling it out "If it is about biology or math I could help you a bit so this way you end things faster."

You tilted your head in confusion before finally getting what he truly meant, Chisaki wasn't difficult to understand especoally when he already was so close to you...

"I would like a extra hand if you wouldn't mind. Although there's nothing of yours in my place remember?"

"I can bring some clothes if you insist. Probably I will arrive by eight and a half or close to." He said monoustly while getting closer to you.

"Sounds perfect love. See you then." You smiled up at him, catching the hint of a tiny smile hrowing in his face.

"Here." He caressed one side of your face affectionately before placing a kiss on your lips affectionately right after he lowered down his mask.

"Love you." You whispered gently seing his smirk and the playfull roll of his eyes.

You distance yourself from him to emter your car before giving him a last kiss and a 'Bye my handsome, hi and bye Kurono!'

... wait. Kurono?

"Never saw you the type of getting affection neither giving it Kai." Smirked his friend behind him, luckily dodging a punch from Chisaki.

"Relax relax it was only a comment!" Exclaimed the man lifting his hands up in surrender.

"I should cut your tongue out after this." He growled before making his way to his home by walking.

"Gonna tell Pops about it?"

"If I don't tell he would discover anyway."

"That's true. Can you believe it there's people on the house betting when you're going to lose your virginity?" He choked on his own saliva at his indecent friend's comment.

"Pardon me what the actual hell?!"

"Yeah. Irinaka betted three more months."

"... I'm going to kill anyone included on this... no exceptions..." he growled before hurrying up his pace while Hari mumbled from behind to himself.

"Hopefully he doesn't discover that I betted one more year."

[calumbringbackthewatermelonshirt]

Hiraeth (C.H.) Part 2

FIND PART 1 HERE

a/n: I think after this I’m probably going to try and update once a week to keep things consistent! please enjoy and lmk what y'all think!! also feel free to send me any questions!

“I believe you owe me something.” You had set your tray at your spot at the usual table. The time had come. Your cravings had taken over. The need for some awful, over sugared coffee was consuming your every thought. Except for the ones about Cal. But coffee. Coffee was something you could have, and soon at that.

“And what would that be?” Classic Ashton. Playing dumb. You were relentless, though. Especially when he had something you so desperately wanted.

“We both know. A ride into town. I’m thinking Dunkin first, then target, then chipotle for a quick bite, then more Dunkin.” You had been ticking off your town to-do list on your fingers as you went, wearing a smile very similar to the Sierra wore when she was up to something.

“As much as I would love to drag your sorry ass around the entire town, I’m busy tonight.” You frowned, knowing that if you didn’t go tonight that you might very well die from withdrawal. That and you’d have to wait another week and a half before your schedules aligned enough again to make the trip.

“Fuck.” You dropped your feet from the table and sighed, running a hand through your hair and screwing up the part in it. It would be fine, you’d manage. You’d run out of toothpaste and eyeliner, but you’d live.

“However, my plans do not involve my car, so I’ve arranged to have someone take you in my place.” You perked up again. Even though you didn’t appreciate being toyed with, you could appreciate the dramatics of it. After all, it was fun when you were on the other side of it.

“Hell yeah! Is it Crystal? She’s cool.” You pumped your fist, practically buzzing with excitement. Even better. You could already picture yourself and Crystal screaming the lyrics to the High School Musical soundtrack together.

“Nope. Hood.” Ashton knew he piqued your interest when he saw your eyebrows shoot up. All a part of Sierra’s plan of course. The elusive Hood, who’s name you still did not know. You’d finally be able to meet the most mysterious man on campus.

“Even better. I get to meet the mysterious ‘Hood.’” You put air quotes around his name. At this point, you weren't even sure he was a real person.

“There is a bit of a hitch. With Hood comes four irresponsible teens.” Ashton winked at you, knowing exactly what he was doing. He had to give Sierra her credit where it was due. This plan was brilliant. Instead of one, Hood would now be operating with four wingmen, each one more bold than the last. Ashton could almost picture the dumbfounded look on Hood’s face when they started to hint at their end goal.

“Fine by me. As long as I get my coffee.” You stood and leaned in closer to Ashton, feeling his breath on your face. It was your hand slipped into his pocket, a twenty finding its way into your sleeve and his keys dangling between your fingers. You dangeled them from your fingers, still grinning at Ashton as you backed away and shot off a text to the members of your group.

….

It took about twenty minutes of scrolling on your phone until you finally heard footsteps and the lively, somewhat loud chatter that surrounded your little group approaching.

Your fingers flying, you shot off one last text and looked up.

Only to be met with a very familiar pair of dark brown eyes.

Elevator guy?

A million questions ricocheted in your brain. What was ele- Cal doing here? With your gaggle of friends?And why was he carrying Luke on his back piggyback style?

You froze, head cocked and eyebrow raised. Cal strongly resembled a deer in headlights at this moment, having missed a step when he noticed it was you leaning against the car. Luke didn’t notice; instead, he took two fistfulls of Cal’s hair, as if trying to control him that way, like Remy and Linguini in Ratatouille.

Michael was the first to catch on to the tension between the two of you. He head swished back and forth a few times, trying to patch together why both of you had reacted to each other like that. It took a second to click. “Wait, do you two know each other?”

“We’ve met. Briefly.” You winked at Cal and slid your phone into the pocket of your jeans, procuring Ashton’s keys in its place. You jingled them before the group for a second before tossing them over to Cal. Kaykay gave her best attempt to snatch them out of the air, but Cal caught them easily over her head, appearing to still be a little bit stunned by your presence.

“Wait a second. You’ve met?” Sierra was screeching. You and Hood were supposed to meet like this, not however you had met before. This couldn’t be right, one misstep could throw off her whole plan, and she had NOT gone to the lengths of planning your wedding only to have it be for nothing.

“Um, yes. Just for a second, though. In the elevator up to the first bell classes.” Hood dropped Luke from his back unceremoniously. Instead, he studied the keys in his hands, looking again like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole. You were starting to wonder why he looked like that every time he saw you.

“So you’re the famous ‘Hood’ I’ve been hearing about.” You grinned and pushed yourself off of the car, crossing your arms. You took a few steps toward him. “I was beginning to doubt you even existed.”

Kaykay snorted and stopped messing with Luke's hair for a second. “You two have met. Obviously he existed.”

“No, no. I met Cal. Hood was a rumor.” Kaykay and Sierra turned and gave each other a look. They seemed to be in agreement that maybe the prior meeting wasn’t so bad.

“Alright, alright. Are we going or not?” Hood sighed and stalked around to the driver’s side, getting into the car before anyone of them could even think of saying anything.

You turned and hopped in the passenger’s side. Only to hear five other people shouting at you.

Apparently, getting in the car was cause for rioting these days.

“Hey, why do you get shotgun?” Kaykay was the first one to say something vaguely coherent. She almost never got shotgun, and she had kind of been hoping that today would be her day.

“Yeah, hey, I want shotgun.” Sierra was next, speaking fast. She was right next to the door, tugging on the handle. But before she could make her first pull, Hood clicked the lock button on his side of the car, effectively shutting all the kids out.

“It’s not too late. We can drive off and leave them now.” Cal? Hood? sighed out his words, leaning forward and putting his head on the steering wheel.

“Oh, come on. You know you love them. It’s obvious. Besides, the only way they’re gonna get me out of this seat is if they kill me first.” You turned to the window and stuck out your tongue at the kids staring at you through the window before putting on your seatbelt.

“Have you met Kaykay?” Hood smirked at you, looked out at the murder written on Kaykay’s face, and then back at you. “That might not be as hard as you think.”

“Believe it or not I’m tougher than I look.” You unlocked the car with the button on your side, but flipped the lock on your door back.

The kids piled into the car, grumbling about being shoved into the back.

“Damn. I wanted up front.” Michael climbed in behind Hood, but not before leaning the seat forward to allow the two youngest to clamber into the back.

“Yeah, yeah. We all wanted shotgun.” Kaykay was behind you, picking at her fingernails, disgruntled. “Can I at least have the AUX?”

“No offense, Kay, but no one wants to listen to death metal.” Sierra wrinkled her nose at the idea of having to headbang and messing up her hairstyle. Her space buns may have looked messy and spiky, but that was a carefully curated look that had taken her a while to perfect.

“I wanna listen to Mozart. I find it calming. You know, statistically, babies who have mozart played to them in the womb come out smarter?” Luke was a big fan of classical music, despite his younger age. He found it versatile, great for both studying and falling asleep to.

“Makes sense. I guess your mom must have played you a lot of Mozart when you were little, huh?” You twisted around in your seat and smiled at Luke for a second, who flushed, but still smiled back. “How about we all choose one song to go on a playlist and we can turn that on shuffle?”

All the children shrugged and nodded, so you called names and collected the songs into one playlist on your phone, playing it through the car stereo a bit louder than was necessary.

“That is the fastest they have ever agreed on anything ever.” Hood looked at you out of the side of his eyes before turning his attention back to the road. “And the fastest solution we’ve ever procured for an argument.”

You shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a natural leader.”

Most of the songs on the playlist ended up being ones you all knew enough to sing along to, asides from the cello melody (Luke) and the heavy metal music (Kaykay).

It took about half an hour and another song draft to reach Dunkin. By the time you got there you were practically vibrating with excitement. Hood kept glancing at you, a small smile at his lips and mirth in his eyes. Apparently, he took great amusement in your love for mediocre coffee.

Instead of attempting to corral all the kids in and out of the restaurant, Hood figured the drive through would be a more time effective option.

Kaykay demanded to order for herself, despite being on the wrong side of the car and in the back seat. Still, Michael rolled down his window obediently, just sighing and leaning back when she unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed into his lap to talk into the speaker.

You went next. You felt bold for no reason today. That was the only explanation for what you did. Mirroring Kaykay, you too unbuckled, leaning over Hood’s lap to rest your weight on the car door.

“I’ll have six shots of espresso, over ice, with a caramel drizzle, please.” You heard a scoff from inside the car, turning to find Kaykay gaping at you.

“That’s enough caffeine to kill a small horse.” Kaykay was a little amazed, and a lot worried. You didn’t even order milk. That was gonna taste like battery acid.

“Are you okay?” Sierra looked absolutely disgusted at the mere thought of your coffee order. Even though she was more of a tea person, Sierra liked her coffee as sweet as her personality.

“I think it sounds good. Can I have one?” Luke barely got the words out before five simultaneous nos were yelled.

“Luke, honey, I’ve only known you for a couple weeks, but even I can tell that you and coffee would not be a good mix.” You took sympathy on the child, who looked downright embarrassed by his chastisement. “How about a hot chocolate instead?”

Luke seemed to perk up by that idea, and when the car pulled up to the window, you wordlessly handed Hood your debit card.

“I have cash with me. How much was my drink?” Michael was the first to ask. You knew it was coming, the onslaughts of ‘let me pay you backs’ and ‘here's the money for my drinks.’ But that wasn’t gonna happen, at least not today.

“This one’s on me.” It was simple enough, but all the kids still looked suspicious. You rolled your eyes, a little offended that you had to explain being nice. “Think of it as a thank you. You know, for taking pity on me and allowing me into your little group.”

They still all looked like you were about to tell them their dog had died.

“Fine. My parents are loaded, I took the RA job cause I wanted my own room, and the way I communicate love is through gifts. Happy?”  You sighed and slurped down half your coffee in one sip.

“Isn’t it almost freezing outside?” Hood was the first to break the somewhat awkward silence. “Are you sure drinking an iced drink was the best choice?”

You grinned slowly. “It’s time I told you my life motto. If you can’t handle a cold drink during the winter, your bloodline is weak.”

Seeing as you had the only iced drink in the car, this caused a bit of an uproar.

…

“Hey.” Cal had turned down the music in the car. Aside from Kaykay, who had her headphones in, you and Cal were the only two people awake. So when he broke the silence on the ride back to campus, it startled you just a touch.

“Hey yourself.”

“I, um, I had fun today. It was nice to see you again.” You made a mental note about Cal: he reverted to CEO mode when he got nervous. Well, you assumed he was nervous. He wouldn’t make eye contact with you, so you figured you were probably right.

“You, too.” His nervousness was kind of endearing, you thought. Even if it made talking to him a little bit awkward and choppy.

“You know, I’m actually pretty grateful Ashton bailed on me.” Calum’s eyes widened a bit, but you ignored it. You had a feeling if you pointed it out, Cal might do something drastic like bailing from the car while it was still moving.

“Oh?” Hood attempted to keep his expression neutral, but there were all sorts of bells and alarms going off in his head.

“Yeah, it was fun spending time with all of you. Being part of a group like this…” Your tongue darted out of your mouth and wetted your lips. You rolled them together and then drew your bottom lip in between your teeth. They were such a tight knit group, and while all of them were welcoming and kind to you… it was still hard to not feel like an outsider. You didn’t regret it, of course, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that this was a honeymoon phase in your friendship. All good things came to an end. You just hoped it would be later rather than sooner. “It feels like a family.”

“We’ve only known each other for three months.” Cal looked at you out of the side of his eye, skeptical. He was close with his little gang, but family was a bit of a stretch in his opinion. Sure, he spent all his time with them and looked after them, and cared about them, of course. But that didn’t exactly mean they were family.

“Cal, you literally make them bring you their report cards so you can make sure they’re doing okay in all of their classes.” Was he kidding you? It was funny how the man in front of you was able to delude himself in believing that was true.

“I don’t give a damn about their grades.” Hood scoffed. He had his own problems that didn’t include the grades of a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.

“You give so many damns they’re visible from space.” The lies about not caring were probably to keep up his stone cold loner ruse. They were, of course, lies, but you didn’t want to spoil that for him.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Hood was grumbling, but there was a slight chuckle behind it.

…

It was a couple of days before you had the time to speak to Cal again. The older kids used a ‘divide and conquer’ method to keep tabs on the troublemakers of the bunch, which was a lot more difficult than you remembered babysitting to be.

It was in the library. You had been in there for a couple hours at that point, desperate to get in some studying for your test in AP history. That table had been your best friend for a while now, so when Crystal started her shift and came over to chat, it was a welcomed interruption.

“Hey. What are you doing?” She motioned to a chair, sliding it out and taking a seat only after you waved at her that it was okay.

“Just doing some cramming before my history test tomorrow.” You sighed, marking your page in your history book before slamming it shut and sliding down in your seat. “You?”

“Luke asked me to pick some books up for him, despite having not yet finished the ones he’s already checked out.” Crystal made her hands busy flipping through the pages of the books Luke requested. They didn’t seem bad, just… tedious.

“Our own little genius.” You stood, pushing your chair back as you went. “I’m going to grab some paper from the supply closet.”

As soon as she was sure you were gone, Crystal pulled her phone out of her pocket and shot off a quick text to Sierra.

Sierra smirked from her own table at the library, hiding it just in time from Hood. He was ‘helping’ her study for english. Or so he thought.

“What?” Hood looked up from his own calculus homework. “You’re looking at me weird.”

“Nothing. Will you go grab more printer ink from the supply closet? I need to print off my rough draft, but the computer says the cartridge is empty.” Hood grumbled, but he rose and set off in the direction of the supply closet anyways. Sierra grinned at his back. Phase three was a go.

It only took Hood a couple minutes to cross the library to the supply closet. It was mostly empty as he navigated through the bookshelves. He gave a quick wave to Crystal when he saw her, but didn’t stop to chat since she had her headphones in.

The storage closet was small. It barely fit the few racks of supplies that had been stuffed in there, much less a person. Or two people.

Hood. And you.

Hood, once again, felt himself freeze. He really, really had to stop doing that. It had been a few days since he saw you last, and he wasn’t expecting to see you here.

That was when he heard the door click shut behind him.

“Oh, no.” Hood whirled around, pulling on the door as hard as he could. Nothing. Shit. Shit fucking balls. He had just managed to get the two of you locked in here. Together.

“Oh, no?” You sounded a little concerned and a little offended. ‘Oh no’ was never great, but there was raw fear in Cal’s voice.

“Um, I may or may not have just gotten us locked in here.” Hood rolled his lips into his mouth. Not good. He reached for his phone, only to realize that it was still back at the table with Sierra. He didn’t think he would need it. Apparently, he had forgotten to account for the fact that he was very dumb.

“ Oh. Oh, no.” This time it was your turn to panic and pat yourself down, also searching for your phone. You had yours on you, at least, but it wasn’t much help since the battery had died a half an hour ago.

“Yeah. Not good.” Hood exhaled slowly through his mouth, sliding his back down the door til he was sitting on the ground. “Well, at the very least, we know someone will come for us eventually.”

“We do?” You walked over and took a seat next to him, your shoulder brushing his.

“Yeah. I’m here with Sierra. She sent me to get an ink cartridge. It’ll probably only be a few minutes before she comes looking for me.” Hood glanced down at his watch. 7:38. He would guess they’d be out by 8:00. And that was being generous.

“Good to know. Guess it’s just you and me until then.” You sigh and tipped your head back, leaning it against the door.

“I can think of worse company.” Hood watched as you raised your eyebrows, leaving your eyes closed.

“Hmm. Like Luke hopped up on sugar.” You smirked at your own words. Luke was already hard to control.

“Have you ever met Luke on a sugar high?” Hood leveled his eyes at you, and you peaked the one closest to him open.

“No?”

“Then you will never know how true your words are.” Hood chuckled a bit at the memory of Halloween. They let Luke ration out his own candy. That was mistake number one.

“Oh god. I don’t even want to know.” You grinned, but it was a tired one.

“Can I, um, ask you something?” Hood fiddled with his own fingers, more nervous than he had been in a while. And for what? You were just a person. Okay, maybe not just a person. But there still wasn’t a reason for all the knots in his stomach.

“I’m an open book.”

“Why did you only start as a RA a couple weeks into the school year?” It bothered him to not know. He was an RA and still couldn’t figure out a reason after thinking about it for weeks.

“Oh.” That was not what you were expecting him to ask. “Um, I had applied. The old RA left to go to the public school. That’s pretty much it.”

Hood just hummed. He felt like there might be more to that story, but it wasn’t his place to pry.

“My turn.” After you felt Cal’s eyes on you, you sat up and met them. “You got to ask a question. Now it’s my turn.”

You studied Cal’s face for a second before deciding on your question. “What do you think is your biggest flaw?”

Hood chuckled. “This is gonna be ironic, but probably the fact that my sense of humor doesn’t exist.”

“Now that can't be true. We're talking, laughing.” That much was true. You were both smiling.

“Okay. My turn again?” After a quick confirmation nod from you, Hood asked his next curiosity. “What’s your favorite place on Earth?”

“Home.” It was so simple, just that one word. And yet, you sensed that it had somehow struck deep with both of you. You were sure for different reasons, though.

Your next words were forcibly bright, rushed. “My turn. Do you prefer when people call you Hood or Cal?”

“That would depend on the person, I suppose. Everyone calls me Hood, including most of my teachers.” Hood smiled down at you, as if daring you to do what you were both thinking. “Back to me. How about your favorite book?”

“I can’t choose just one. There’s all sorts of great crap out there.” You smirked. “The fact that I called it crap is meaningless. My turn again. Do you believe in ghosts?”

Hood gaped at you. “Really? You can ask me anything you want, knowing full and well that I have to answer with complete honesty, and you chose to ask if I believe in ghosts?”

“Just answer the damn question.”

“Fine. No, I don’t believe in fucking ghosts.” Hood wasn’t 100% confident in his answer. He believed in the possibility of ghosts, perhaps. But not the existence of the ghosts themselves.

“Look, I just asked if you believed in them. I didn’t ask what you thought about their sexual habits.” Hood pushed your shoulder playfully, chuckling again. He had noticed himself doing that kind of a lot around you. It felt...nice.

The frequency of the questions dwindled after that, most of them escaping as yawns through your lips. More than once you found yourself nodding off in the middle of both questions and answers. Hood found great amusement in it. You would scrunch up your nose and sway a bit, wiping at your face and trying to fight your own body. Eventually, you would succumb to sleep, your head just brushing his shoulder. It would rest there for a split second before bouncing right back, snapping you back to consciousness each time. Each time, your head would use his shoulder as a pillow for just a fraction longer, until eventually you didn’t wake back up.

You were just… sleeping. On him. Really, you were snoring a little. It was cute to him. Hood glanced back at his watch. 8:17. It had been over half an hour, and still no rescue. Hood reached behind him and gave the doorknob a little jiggle again. Still nothing. He sighed, not that he was expecting it to magically open. It was worth a shot.

It was five minutes later Hood heard footsteps. He didn’t even have time to turn around to knock before the door swung open. You and Hood fell flat on your backs without the door supporting your weight, waking you up. In Hood’s arms. He had put his arm around you when you fell to make sure you didn’t hit your head, although, now that he was thinking about it, that was a bit weird. You sat up before he could move, pulling him up with you.

“Sierra. Our savior.” You grinned up at her. Cal was already on his feet, offering you a hand to help you up. You took it, barely using any of your own muscles with the strength he used to pull you up. “Well, this has been a pleasure. I’ll see you around, Calum Hood.”

From there, you went back to your table to gather up your things. It was time to get some real sleep. And not on the shoulder of Calum Hood.

…

tags: @rbforsmileycal​ @whatthefuckimbisexual​

[catgirlxox]

Omg! I just watched the B10:AF ep “Veeedle, Vreedle” and I now see what your talking about with Julie! I mean, I always believed you, but now I am seeing it with my own eyes! I haven’t watched Ben 10 in some, just recently started to rewatch it (found you blog and I love it!), and I always remembered feeling weird about their (Ben & Julie) relationship. I didn’t remember this ep I rewatched it and I notices something. (1) when the Vreedles come to repo, Ship is on the offensive & starts morphing

into weapons. Julie tells Ship “I don’t want them to see how valuable you are” and instead calls Ben(who comes with in seconds!!) (2) when with Gwen and Kevin, they find out the court order is legit, Ben says “somebody can use him [Ship] as a weapon” Gwen: “AND you DON’T want Julie to LOSE her pet EITHER, right BEN?” Ben passively says he agrees and Julie calls him out on it not being sincere 

(3) Julie ask Gwen would Ben care if Ship was “just a dog, my [Julie] dog” (4) When Ben & Kevin comes back from court Julie is happy b/c Ben went “halfway across the galaxy” for her. But when Ben tells her that he feels, in light of all of this, that Julie is putting a lot of pressure on their relationship, Kevin tells him “it’s just a dog”. Like people Ship is not a dog! Ship is a sentient Mechamorph! You perceive it to act like a dog! Is there even dogs in space?!

Julie starts the episode saying that Ship is powerful, latter saying the same thing to Gwen, but once Ben says the exact same thing that she says, all of a sudden it’s wrong. I’m with Ben, that thing can kill you, your family, or anyone at any given time! Ship, though friendly, it’s not a toy or pet. Ship is like owning a gun; it’s cool and you can take it to the shooting range for “fun” BUT it doesn’t take away how deadly it is.

Gwen & Kevin might be so relaxed b/c they have seen and can handle things like this. But Julie hasn’t, she literally had to call Ben for help b/c she couldn’t protect herself! And what if he couldn’t answer his phone?! But lucky for Julie he comes on time to help, but after that Julie questions if Ben cares about ship. Girl, he cares about you and Ship on two different levels. Even if Ship was a dog, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t go out his way unless it was important.

Julie is important to Ben & Ship is important to Julie, therefore Ship is important to Ben. But again you can’t ignore how dangerous Ship is, or the potential to be. But the worst thing is Ben opened the conversation about what he feels in the relationship, but Julie looks offended and Kevin dismisses Ben. If anyone says they feel pressure in a relationship, THATS SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT! Your partner should feel safe & comfortable with you not pressure.

His grievances are dismissed but when Julie got a problem, she’ll raise hell for Ben. And note that this is in the beginning of their relationship and latter Ben doesn’t start these types of conversations anymore, he is mostly reacting or apologizing (to my memory, still rewatching). And I’m surprise that Gwen, of all people, doesn’t have Ben’s back more often. In OS when Kai was first introduced, I remember Gwen sticking up for Ben when he was treated unfairly. Seeing this, I personally think Ben stayed in the relationship b/c he’s lonely & wants intimacy with someone. It used to be Grandpa Max & Gwen, but they now have lives and responsibilities outside of Ben. Often times people who are lonely overindulge in intimacy, i.e always wanting to be around people no matter how long & if it’s good or bad . Some who are quick to romantic relations often do it b/c it’s a quick way to companionship.

I’m not saying Ben doesn’t love Julie, I’m saying is that he emotionally needs Julie more that what she knows and what she can give him. It’s funny how in OV when Rook and Ben become friends, girls start throwing themselves at Ben but he doesn’t care. Julie is traveling and he doesn’t freak out, instead believes the best and let her do her thing. Why? B/c he has Rook, he has a friend that will never leave his side. He finally gets that companion & intimacy he wanted. 

Therefore, no longer NEEDING to hold onto or pursue romantic relations. Instead he’s free to get a gf when he wants one. It’s sad b/c Ben is a empathetic guy, he is so open hearted, kind, forgiving, lighthearted, & trustworthy but people see that as a flaw. Ben will fight for you however you need it, at any cost, but rarely is it returned. He can’t afford to feel bad, to be anything less than Ben 10/10. 

I personally think, within story, Ben deserved better romantic partners or should just stay single. The girls say they given more than they get, but they should know who they’re dating. He couldn’t stop being a hero if he tried, b/c it’s who he is! He’s not dumb, he’ll make “gf time”, but he also needs “me time”. He’ll do what they want, but to do what he wants they’re reluctant or wants something out of it *cough* the D *cough*. It seems like they all are in love with

—————————————————————-

Yes!! I’m so glad people are noticing!

First, the “dog” situation…SHIP IS NOT A DOG. Just because he is seemingly programmed to mimic an earth dog, doesn’t make him any less a weapon. It’s the equivalent of having a machine gun painted pink. Cute, but still deadly.

Ben is right to see Ship for what he is, and in doing so, it proves that he cares about Julie because he cares that she’s in possession of what could be highly dangerous alien weaponry.

Why does he need to go half way across the universe for her to see that??

Is he supposed to just agree with her delusion? Okay, “delusion” might be a little harsh, but he’s had so much experience with dangerous alien technology, even being able to become a Galvanic Mechamorph himself because of the potentially dangerous alien technology literally on his wrist, that he would know what he’s talking about. She doesn’t even know the half of it at this point!

Why does she not care that he’s looking out for her?? How does that make him a bad boyfriend? Just because he disagrees with her?

Who wouldn't feel under pressure when this is a problem very early into your relationship?

Part of me just thinks that they’re reading him wrong. Maybe it should be obvious that Ben saying “I think Ship could be used as a weapon” would translate to “I care about Julie’s safety”, but to her it seems to not have been so clear, unfortunately. 

Similarly, I hear a lot of people talk about how much of a problem Ben’s “attitude” is when debating things in relation to this pairing. Although this is probably more common when discussing Ultimate Alien. 

But honestly? If you don’t like someone’s attitude, why would you stay in a relationship with them?

Are relationships for changing your partner to suit your own preferences? And if their own opinions and perspectives don’t line up with yours, even if they’re right, does that make them a bad partner? 

Flaws are subjective. Clearly what these characters thought was ‘bad’ about Ben, we see the good in. 

He is not fundamentally a terrible boyfriend. 

It’s interesting that you say Ben chose to stay in the relationship due to feelings of loneliness and longing for intimacy that he was lacking. I have my own particular issues with Rook, but, for the most part, I’m willing to slightly overlook those flaws because I’m glad he was there for Ben when he needed someone during the beginning of Omniverse. But that really makes it clear why he stuck around.

I hate when people argue that he was neglectful and ignorant towards her, which is what made her leave. Or, more accurately, “ghost him.” 

I don’t recall anyone in “Rules of Engagement” ever definitively saying that it had been months between the last time Ben and Julie spoke. 

Ben is sixteen in both Ultimate Alien and Omniverse, apparently. If that is true, SO MUCH HAPPENS THAT YEAR! He gains fame, takes down his childhood hero (Captain Nemesis), deals with Ultimate Kevin and Aggregor, deals with the Forever Knights becoming increasingly more violent, defeats Vilgax and Dagon with Ascalon, loses his old team, becomes friends with Rook. deals with Khyber hunting him down, has old wounds ripped open and faces off Malware, gets kicked off the planet while the Incuseans enslave Earth before coming back to save everyone…and that’s not even the whole show! 

They had a falling out between Ben defeating Vilgax and Dagon, and the frog war. Compared to how many events can fit into a year of his life. that couldn’t have been an extremely long time. Two months, maximum. 

But more importantly, he must have been so overwhelmed. It’s so unfortunate that he feels like he can’t express that in fear of people not seeing him as the strong, unbreakable hero he is always expected to be. 

Overall, I definitely agree that he deserved better than what he got. And I could be petty and plug my own self insert oc who I ship with him (and do it right lol) but I’ll save it. Thank you for letting me know my words make a difference!

[onewfantaesy]

Hi... could you please tell me where can I order my own angsty baby superhero? I think I need one...😂 And is it possible to have an episode where the league have some kind of training camp or summer camp for younger superheroes/sidekicks while the older ones having meeting with world leaders or some kind of conference. Taemin are sent to the one with the younger bunch and he think that he will get teased by the teenage superheroes. Or something in that tune. Thank you always for all the AUs.

“I’M NOT GOING!”

“It’s only for two weeks.”

“I’M NOT GOING!”

“We already signed you up,” Jinki tells him, still somehow very calm despite the fact that Taemin looks like he’s going to explode, little bursts of lightning crackling at the tips of his fingers. “It will be fun!”

“No it won’t because everyone is mean and all the sidekicks are dumb and what if people see and then Red Cyclone is the only adult at some stupid little sidekick summer camp and it’s not fair and I wanna go with you and it’s not fair!”

“Sweetheart,” Luna laughs a bit, gently guiding him to sit on the couch with her, “you don’t have to be Red Cyclone at the camp. You don’t have to to do any of the superhero training stuff - because you’re already a superhero. You can just go and have fun.”

“Why can’t I go with the rest of the league?” Taemin whines, aggressively cuddling into her side. “I wanna stay with you. And it’s gonna be my birthday!”

“You’ll be home before your birthday, and we’ll have a big party for you to celebrate turning eleven,” Jinki tells him.

“I wanna stay with you,” Taemin repeats, his voice soft but still with a whiny tinge to it.

“You’re so sweet,” Luna coos, hugging him tight. “But you have to go.”

“But I’m the only one without powers,” Taemin cries. “Cyclone has powers, Taemin’s just normal.”

“Arrow’s niece is going to be there,” Jinki tells him. “She’s your age, and she doesn’t have any powers, either.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Taemin huffs and sighs and continues whining for days, but he does end up going to summer camp.

“You’ll be in this cabin,” one of the older sidekicks who’s in charge says. “There’s only one other ten year old signed up, so you’re both in this cabin. She also has no powers, so I’ll be your group leader and we can do some different activities from the others.”

He knows his new group leader’s name is Kai, but he cannot for the life of him remember what his sidekick name is or whose sidekick he is. It’s going to drive Taemin mad for the next two weeks. Maybe he’ll get his roommate to ask for him.

“I do have powers, ya know,” Taemin says back in a snotty voice.

“Yes, but I was told you didn’t want to turn into Red Cyclone during this camp thing, so we’ll work on normal self defense, some offense, and archery, since that’s what your roommate specializes in. We can also do some normal camp stuff. Arts and crafts and kayaking and all that crap.”

“Wow,” Taemin says. “Sounds super duper exciting.”

“Just don’t be a dick and we won’t have any problems,” Kai tells him, making a face at him.

Taemin huffs when Kai leaves, goes and claims the bed on the right side of the cabin, and flops on top of the bed while holding his Jinx doll. This camp thing is gonna suck and he can’t wait for it to be over. Plus, he’s still offended that the League is going on some big peace-keeping trip across the globe and he got left with the sidekicks. It sucks. Everything sucks.

“Hi,” a soft voice says as the cabin door opens. “I’m Naeun. Are you my cabin buddy?”

Taemin looks up to see the prettiest girl he’s ever seen in his whole entire life smiling at him and dragging a giant duffel bag behind her.

“Yes!” Taemin says, jumping up to help her with her bags. “I can help you! I’m Taemin!”

She giggles at him and has the cutest smile and a giant bow and arrow are strapped to her back.

Maybe there’s just one thing about this camp that won’t suck.

The first week goes smoothly. They spend their time sparring, hiking, and fighting off pre-programmed droids with the moves that Kai teaches them. He even takes them kayaking on the lake, and he’s probably the best sidekick Taemin has ever met. He must not spend much time at Mount Justice with all the other loser sidekicks.

“I’m not so much a sidekick anymore,” Kai tells him when Taemin questions him on it. “We’re more like partners. I told him I was too old to be a sidekick anymore.”

“How old are you?”

“You have a lot of questions,” Kai laughs. “I’m 20.”

“Wow,” Taemin whistles. “You’re old.”

“Thank you,” Kai laughs, shoving him. “Now let’s get back to archery. Naeun, can you help him hold the arrow properly, please?”

“Pull it back like this,” she tells him, holding onto his hand.

Taemin’s entire face turns red when she stands so close to him. He can hear Kai snickering behind his hand. Taemin wants to send the arrow straight into his kneecap. 

Many evenings find Taemin and Naeun playing around their cabin while Kai supervises and makes sure they don’t sprain an ankle or kill each other. It mostly involves playing tag or coming up with elaborate pranks to pull against Kai. It usually involves pouring lake water over his head. They’re both pretty sure Kai knows every time it’s going to happen, but he lets it happen to humor them. Taemin’s almost forgotten that the other sidekicks even exist.

Until Kai announces that the first Saturday, they’re going to compete with the others to take down a practice droid. 

“It’s just for fun,” he tells them that morning. “To practice the moves I’ve been teaching you.”

“But they’ll use their powers,” Taemin complains. “And they’re older. It’s not fair.”

“You can turn into Red Cyclone if you want,” Kai tells him. “No one will stop you. It’s just for fun, guys, I promise.”

“Oh look, it’s little orphan Annie,” one of the meaner sidekicks laughs when Taemin, Naeun, and Kai walk over to the arena that was set up.

Taemin immediately sticks his tongue out, makes a face, and flips him off with both hands. Kai has to physically pick him up and drag him away.

“Please don’t make those kinds of gestures,” Kai says.

“They started it!”

“And I’ll deal with them later,” Kai promises. “But please don’t flip anyone off, it’s rude.”

“Their existences are rude.”

“Please stop.”

The fact that Kai remains so calm helps calm Taemin down, and he ends up just discussing with Taemin and Naeun what their strategy should be to defeat the droid.

“Watch them,” he whispers as the first group battles the droid. “Look at everything they’re doing wrong. Their stances are terrible. They rely on their powers way too much. Don’t make those same mistakes.”

When the first group gets horribly beaten by the droid, Taemin gasps.

“I have an idea,” he whispers to both of them, and he pulls them close to tell them his plan. Kai approves after tweaking a few of the other moves Taemin had suggested, and Naeun is bouncing in anticipation as the other groups go before them.

Taemin ends up turning into Red Cyclone halfway through their fight to distract the droid. Naeun makes several critical hits with her arrows, and then they get the droid to corner Taemin on the ground.

All the sidekicks are laughing, saying that Taemin can’t even beat it as a full grown hero, but that just makes Taemin smirk even more.

“Shazam!”

A magic lightning bolt goes straight through the droid to hit Taemin and turn him back to normal, and he rolls out from under the droid as it collapses on the floor.

Taemin and Naeun cheer the entire time, high-five each other, and just in general act excited since they’re the only group who managed to beat the droid. Kai is even cheering loudly for them, and it’s just fun. Taemin is having a good time.

“THAT’S CHEATING!” one of the sidekicks screams. “YOU’RE SUCH A LITTLE CHEAT!”

Taemin and Naeun immediately stop, and they’re both so confused as they turn to the group of angry teenage sidekicks.

“How did we cheat?” Taemin asks. 

“YOU CAN’T JUST TURN INTO RED CYCLONE AND BACK IN A REAL FIGHT!” they shout. “YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

“Well I just did,” Taemin snaps back. 

“I’m the one who said he could do that,” Kai says, trying to diffuse the situation. “They didn’t do anything wrong.”

That doesn’t help any. It turns into a mob of teenage sidekicks screaming at Taemin about how he’s a cheater, which turns into them mocking him for being a foster kid again, which turns into them saying, “THE ONLY REASON JINX AND NIGHTINGALE TOOK YOU IN IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE POWERS! WHY DO YOU THINK YOU’RE NOT WITH THE LEAGUE RIGHT NOW?”

And it makes Taemin freeze. Those thoughts are always in the back of his mind, that Jinki and Luna only took him in because they found out he was Red Cyclone and they wanted to keep tabs on him.

Even though it’s just a small group of sidekick yelling all these things at him, it feels like everyone at the camp is thinking the same thing. The camp leaders are trying to get everyone under control, but Taemin is so overwhelmed and upset that he turns back into Red Cyclone and flies back to the cabin.

He only takes his backpack with a couple changes of clothes stuffed inside, and flies away. He leaves his Jinx doll on the bed, still tucked against the pillow.

Taemin goes straight to his lair. It’s the only place no one else can access. He wants to be entirely and completely alone.

“You’re unhappy.”

Except he forgets the wizard can just pop in whenever he wants. It’s so rude.

“No shit, asswipe,” Taemin snaps. “You ruined my life!”

“I made you my champion.”

“And you ruined my life!” Taemin cries. “I don’t want to be a superhero!”

“You are not a superhero,” the wizard tells him, his voice very firm. “You are a champion of good. You protect people who cannot protect themselves. You help keep the balance between good and evil.”

Taemin turns back into himself, and he just cries. He crumbles onto the stone floor, hugs his backpack to his chest, and cries. He misses his Jinx doll, but he doesn’t want it anymore.

“You are pure of heart,” the wizard tells him for what feels like the millionth time. “This is why I chose you. But I think it’s time I teach you more magic.”

Taemin wipes at his eyes and looks at where the wizard is kneeling beside him.

“What kinda magic?”

“Every kind of magic.”

The wizard spends the next four days teaching Taemin about magic. He learns simple spells quickly, mastering them in just hours. Things like summoning fire and lifting objects. 

Other spells are not so simple. Like teleportation. And a trick that the wizard knew to keep surveillance on certain people.

He showed an example of it with Jinki and Luna. They’re frantic, having left the conference early to search for Taemin. 

He sees Luna holding the Jinx doll and crying on the bed while Jinki stays out late at night searching the city.

“They’re looking for you,” the wizard tells him. “They’ve been looking for you nonstop. You’ve been missing for almost a week.”

“They don’t really miss me,” Taemin lies to himself. “They only adopted me because they didn’t like that I was running around as Red Cyclone.”

“You know that isn’t true.”

“Then why does everyone think it?”

“Because they’re jealous,” the wizard suggests. “Because they are intimidated by you. Because they want you to question yourself.”

Taemin is quiet for a long time. He watches as Luna cries and hugs the Jinx doll, as Jinki shouts to other superheroes about how unfair it is that the police won’t search for Taemin because, “This is what he does, they said! He’s a ten year old boy, I don’t care how many times he’s run away before, he’s missing! He needs to be safe and at home!”

Other heroes are out looking for Taemin. Many of them left the conference early. Many came to help as soon as the conference ended.

The sidekicks who heckled him were punished. Again. Taemin isn’t sure it will really do anything, but apparently his running away is a big deal.

“I’m afraid to go back,” Taemin admits. 

“Why?”

“They’re gonna be mad at me.”

“I think they’ll be overjoyed if you go back,” the wizard tells him. “They miss you a great deal.”

It takes about an entire day, but the wizard convinces Taemin to go home.

He goes back in the middle of the night. Jinki is still out looking for him. Most of the house is dark, but the back door is left unlocked.

“Mom?” Taemin whispers, tip-toeing up the stairs.

He finds her sleeping on his bed, still holding onto his Jinx doll. Taemin kicks off his shoes and gets in the bed next to her, taking his Jinx doll to hold to his chest. He really missed it.

Luna wakes up an hour later to find Taemin completely knocked out next to her, and she just starts crying and fixing his hair and hugging him. It wakes him up, and he whines a little bit, but he doesn’t fight her off when she holds him tight to her chest and whispers how much she missed him.

She calls Jinki right away, and he’s back home within ten minutes to hug Taemin and tell him how much they missed him.

“What were you thinking?” Jinki asks, holding Taemin so close. “We’ve been worried sick.”

Taemin doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t really know what he was thinking. He was upset and scared and wanted to go somewhere he could be by himself.

“Are you okay?” Jinki asks softly. “Are you hurt?”

Taemin only shakes his head and holds on tighter. He doesn’t want to talk.

“Did anything bad happen while you were gone?” Jinki asks.

Taemin shakes his head again.

“Okay,” Jinki says softly. “We can talk more tomorrow. Let’s go to sleep now, alright?”

Taemin falls asleep between Jinki and Luna that night. He really did miss them a lot.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 12: Fusion Reborn (4/6)

The problem: An accident at King Yemma’s has mutated one of his ogres into Janemba, a creature with incomprehensible power.   Janemba has sealed Yemma’s domain within a spiritual barrier, which has disrupted the boundary between the living and the dead.  On Earth, Gohan tried using the Dragon Balls to fix things, but not even Shenron has the power to undo Janemba’s mischief. 

Neither can Pikkon, since the barrier seems to resist even his most powerful attacks.

Goku has lured Janemba away so that Pikkon could rescue Yemma without distraction, but so far that hasn’t done any good.  Frustrated, Pikkon shouts at the obstacle.   

And a bit of it breaks away.

This is never explained, but I’m not sure an explanation is really needed here.  Scolding the barrier and calling it names seems to damage it.    Maybe that says something about the nature of Janemba and his power.  Big J is basically rebelling against the most fundamental rules of creation, like an impudent child.  The spiritual waste that made Janemba represents all the bad things done by a bunch of bad people who got sent to hell by Yemma.   My working theory is that Janemba represents their collective outrage at being held accountable for their bad behavior.   So maybe when Pikkon yells at the barrier, it reminds that evil ki that it really is bad and all this Janemba business doesn’t change that fact.

All that matters to Pikkon is that it works, so he tries screaming more verbal abuse at the barrier.

The trouble is that he’s only chipping away about a quarter-inch off the surface each time.   He’s gonna be at this for a while.

Down in hell, Goku is trying to fight Janemba, but he’s having some trouble figuring the guy out.   Earlier, he sent an army of mini-clones to dogpile Goku, and he managed to get rid of them fairly easily.  This time, Janemba waves his hand, and causes a bunch of these jellybean looking things to fall down on Goku’s head.

Then he charges into the pile like a bowling ball hitting a bunch of pins.

You’d think Janemba would have a hard time hitting Goku, since he’s such a small and quick target, but Janemba’s quicker than he looks.

He also has this ability, where he can make portals.  He sticks his fist through and it comes out on the other side, right next to wherever Goku is.

Also, he can kick really high.  I guess when your body is roughly spherical your center of gravity makes things like this pretty easy to do.   

I almost wonder if the portal thing was devised as a way to cope with Janemba’s design.  Someone looked at this absolute unit and asked how he’s supposed to reach Goku with those stubby arms.  

Worse, Janemba seems to know exactly what Goku is going to do before he does it.   I’m not sure why this is presented like some sort of mysterious ability.  If Janemba can sense ki like most of the characters in this franchise, then he can track Goku’s movements and offensives pretty well.   But it would make a lot of sense if Janemba had some sort of precognitive power on top of all his other weird abilities. 

But it’s a two way street.   After Janemba uses the portal trick enough times, Goku has it scouted, and managess to fire a ki blast at Janemba’s fist, and sending it back through the portal to hit the rest of him.

Then he goes for a Kamehameha while Janemba’s guard is down...

... and then Janemba does whatever this is.   Is that an illusion of Goku, or some sort of time warp of Goku’s actions from a second earlier?

All Goku knows is that it’s weird, wild stuff.  

Janemba doesn’t seem to know what he just did either, and he finds this very amusing.

So Goku decides that he’s going to have to settle this quickly.   He turns Super Saiyan 2, probably thinking that would be enough, but then Janemba fires big ki blasts out of the four holes in his belly, like some sort of anti-aircraft gun.

And here Goku wanted to wrap this up quickly.  Turns out he’s still on the defensive.  Even at Super Saiyan 2, it’s all he can do to stay ahead of the blasts.

And Janemba can fire at any angle, because he can just roll around to point his, uh... holes any which way.

From above, Pikkon can sense Goku’s struggle, and he probably wishes he could join in.

Or maybe he doesn’t, because Janemba’s a lot stronger than he and Goku realized.   So Goku’s decided to pull out all the stops.

Hell yeah!   See, this is the sort of stuff that Movies 9, 10, and 11 were sorely missing.  Those films all had to contend with the fact that Goku was dead and unable to participate in the story directly, and none of them really found a good solution to that problem.  Movies 9 and 10 just gave up and had Goku show up to help at the end, which is incredibly dumb, because if you’re going to do that anyway then why not have him be there from the start?    Movie 11 teased the idea that Goku would be off having another, much cooler adventure off-screen.

What makes Movie 12 so great is that they finally figured out the Gordian Knot of Goku staying dead.  If we can’t bring Goku to the fight, let’s just bring the fight to Goku.   They should have just done that from the beginning.   Just have Bojack attack Goku on the Grand Kai Planet.    Have Broly cause trouble in hell, just like Movie 11 suggested.  They went to a lot of trouble to have Broly miraculously survive his death scene in Movie 8, just so he could appear in Movie 10, and it wasn’t even worth it.   They could have just kept him dead and let Goku fight him for two movies in a row. 

But we all know Broly ‘93 would be no match for Goku ‘95.  That’s why you send in Janemba, because he’s the big gun we need.

Look at how bad ass this is.   Goku to everybody: Come get this work.

Grimly, Goku praises Janemba for being only the second person to push him this far.   So I guess that proves the Buu Saga happened in this movie, even though Goku’s still dead afterward. 

Then he just looks at Janemba, and in the fansub from when I first saw this movie, he says “It’s a fight from here on.”   That’s my favorite line, right there.

Then it’s go time.   No more tricks, no more games, Janemba’s in Goku Town now, and he’s about to get taken to the city dump.

Janemba can’t do shit against Super Saiyan 3 Goku.  He just starts clubberin’ him and Janemba has to take it.

Then he flies really high up and Janemba wonders what he’s going to do....

... and Goku just dives fist-first into Janemba, just driving his ki right into the dude.    Brutal!

It’s not really clear what all of this is doing to the guy, but all of these explosions can’t be good.

Goku flies clear of him, and it sure looks like he’s won.   Janemba convulses a few times, but he seems to be getting weaker...

But then his flesh begins to reassemble itself somehow...

Goku isn’t sure what that means, but he can sense that something is terribly wrong.

Uh-oh...

Uh-oh....!

Uh-ohhhhhh!  Yeah, that’s not good.

So Janemba’s alive, and he’s taken on a new form.  This never goes well for the other guy when this happens, so Goku’s probably in trouble now.

Back on Earth, we don’t really see what Gohan and Videl are up to, but we do follow Goten and Trunks, who have gone back to confront Hitler’s tanks.  

For some reason, Goten seems discouraged by these odds, even though they can punch tanks into other tanks very easily.  The boys haven’t even turned Super Saiyan yet...

Oh, well now they have.    What was Goten so worried about?

I mean, I guess the soldiers can’t really be beaten, since they can just come back to life indefinitely, but you’d think that if Trunks breaks a tank, it stays broken.   Where did Hitler get all these tanks anyway?  

Never mind that shit, because now Janemba’s gonna fight Super Saiyan 3 Goku.   Team Four Star did a countdown of the best fights in 2018, and this was the only fight from the classic movies to make the cut.  Funny how Goku vs. Wheelo didn’t make the list, even though they ranked Movie 2 ahead of this one on their 2015 movie countdown.  Don’t mind me, I’m still bitter.

I can’t do this fight justice with screencaps, and it’s tough to gif a lot of these shots, too.  Both guys are moving around so much and the action is so fluid and skillfully choreographed.   One of my favoirte bits is when Goku rolls away and plants his hand on the ground, then pushes off....

... to kick Janemba right in the mush.  Cool!

But this new red Jameba is tougher than the previous version, and he still has all the powers he used before, like the portals thing.   Goku tries to shoot a ki blast at him...

And he has to dodge his own attack as it’s directed back at him.

Goku seems to be able to hurt Janemba, though, so it’s not a total mismatch...

... Until Janemba starts disassembling his entire body to avoid Goku’s attacks. 

I’m not sure why this is more effective than simply moving at super-speed, but it seems to really have Goku stymied.

Also, he can shoot enormous ki blasts out of his mouth.  So maybe this is a mismatch after all.

Back at Yemma’s Pikkon’s made some respectable progress on the barrier, but he’s not even close to finished, and he’s got Yemma griping him out the whole time, and Goku’s having all the fun.   At least he can take out his frustrations on the barrier.

Here’s one of my favorite shots from the movie.  Goku looks trashed here, but he’s not beaten yet.   Remember, when he used Super Saiyan 3 before, in the Majin Buu Saga, he explained that it used up a lot of his stamina in the living world.  The implication being that it was much more effective in Otherworld, where he couldn’t tire out as easily.   So in theory, we’re seeing SSJ3 applied to its fullest potential, and Goku’s still losing.   Well, uh, he can still use Super Saiyan 4, right?    No, this is Movie 12, we don’t serve that GT crap here.

As Janemba stalks towards Goku he notices an ogre club on the ground and scoops it up.  I don’t know why it’s so small, but I assume it belonged to one of the ogres who run things in Hell, like Goz and Mez.

But Janemba can transform the club into an awesome sword.   I get the sense that Janemba can do way, way more with his powers than what we actually see, but he just hasn’t figured out what he’s capable of yet.    He just figured out the sword thing on impulse.  

Goku keeps trying to hang in there, but he’s outgunned now.  Every time Janemba slashes the sword, it shoots out a thin wave of ki along the arc of the swing, which cuts anything in its path.  So Goku has to dodge the blade as if it’s got an infinite length.

And his best shots aren’t hurting Janemba at all.

Goku tries taking cover behind those jellybean things, but Janemba can just cut through those as well.   

The attack is just relentless, and it’s all Goku can do to run away now. 

And this leads him in the direction of the blood pond, which is one of the key features in DBZ hell.  Somehow, all the blood is now floating in midair in a cone shape.    I have to assume that’s another side-effect of Janemba’s powers. 

But it’s still fluid, as Goku demonstrates when he falls in.

As he does, he reverts back to his base form, and he doesn’t seem to be able to move or escape.   I can’t find any information on the mythology surrounding the bloody pond, but I kind of got the sense that in DBZ, it might act as some sort of means to incapacitate unruly spirits.   When the Ginyu Force tries to escape Hell in the Frieza saga, they fall into the pond, and that’s pretty much the end of that.   When Cell leads a revolt in Episode 195, Pikkon tosses them all in the pond, then uses Hyper Tornado to pull them back out so he can fling them into the needle mountain.   So I got the impression that falling into the pond saps your strength.   Of course, Goku could just as easily be worn out from fighting Janemba, so this may be a coincidence.    But I sort of wonder if Janemba didn’t herd Goku into this spot just so he could take advantage of the pond.

With Goku apparently helpless, Janemba starts slicing off bits of the cone, which then splash away as normal liquid.  I really did this scene, because we can’t see where Goku is inside the pond, so it’s impossible to tell if Janemba has hit him on each stroke.

Finally, Janemba has whittled the cone of blood down to a Goku-sized piece, so the next swing of his sword will surely cut him in two.

I’m not sure whyu Janemba is dragging it out like this, but he is comprised of evil spirit waste, so it’s not like he’s above this sort of sadism.

But then, as Janemba’s ki slice approaches Goku, a ki blast comes from out of nowhere and disrupts the whole thing!

And Goku tumbles out of the blood somehow, which is a lucky break.

But who saved him just now?   Who could have saved him?

Who indeed?

[calpalirwin]

You’ll Always Have Me

Summary: Alyssa and Ashton have been best friends ever since Alyssa moved in across the street the summer before second grade. Together, they were tackling the stereotype that boys and girls can’t just be friends. That is, until they almost kissed right before their junior year of high school. Can their friendship survive the jealousy that stems from their newfound feelings? And what happens when they realize these “newfound feelings” really aren’t all that new?

A/N: Only a few more chapters left!

Recap: So, in yesterday’s chapter, we learned that Aly was in love with our boy Cal! Wanna see what Ash thinks of this? Keep reading to find out!

Chapter 13

~Ashton~

As I hung up, I flopped down onto my bed feeling a wave of deja vu wash over me. I wasn’t sure if I was more upset over the fact that I felt her slipping through my fingers all over again, or if that in ten years of friendship she had never once invited me to her grandparents for the summer. Either way, both realizations sucked, and they sucked hard.

Hoping for a distraction from a girl I knew loved me, I dialed Kayla.

“Hey, handsome,” her voice sounded over the line, picking up on the first ring.

I breathed deeply, admiring the sound of her voice. It was bubbly and sweet, much like her. “Hey, babe,” I responded.

“Ashton, what’s wrong? You sound upset.”

“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “Just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Aw, Ashton. You’re too sweet.”

“I’m really not.”

“Shush. You’re the sweetest boy in the whole world and I love you very much.”

“I love you too, Kay.”

“So, will you tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s stupid,” I brushed off, both wanting to vent, but wary of how she would respond. I should’ve just called Luke

“Nothing you ever say will be stupid,” she coaxed.

“Aly just called saying she’s excited that Calum’s coming to see her at her grandparents. I mean, I get that like he’s her boyfriend and shit. But like… I’ve been her best friend for years and she’s never invited me over. Just feeling a little jealous, I guess,” I told her, bending the truth a smidge.

“Aw, I’m sorry baby. But, maybe Lyssa didn’t invite Calum. Maybe he invited himself.”

“Hmm, I didn’t think about it that way.” If Calum had invited himself rather than the other way around, maybe she wasn’t too far gone. But, a nagging thought said, she did say she was in love with him.

“I’m still sorry, though. Either way, that’s gotta suck. We can hang out tomorrow and I can help take your mind off it?” she suggested.

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

“Okay,” she yawned. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Love you, Ashton.”

“Love you, Kay.” I ended the call, then called Luke. 

“Talking with Lys that long, huh?” he joked once he answered.

“No… well, we did talk. But, I called Kay after.”

“Ouch, I’m heavily offended,” were the words, but the tone was flat.

“Shut up,” I rolled my eyes.

“So, how are you taking it?” he asked, switching to the reason he knew I called.

“Not good. I’m angry, and jealous, and…”

“Absolutely crushed?” he offered.

“Yeah,” I sighed, feeling a lump rise in my throat.

“I mean… she’s never invited Si either. And they’re about as close as you two are.”

“That’s only half of it. Kay said that it was possible Calum invited himself over, not Aly inviting him.”

“Oh… yeah, there’s a possibility. So, what’s the other half then?”

“It started with her saying she didn’t realize how much she missed him. Then, I asked if they’ve said that they’ve loved each other yet. She said no.”

“That’s good, though, isn’t it? Like, for you?”

“Until I stupidly followed it by asking if she does.”

“And?”

“She’s in love with him. Not just regular love. In love. In.”

I heard him suck air in through his teeth. “That fuckin blows, man.”

“How can I compete with that?”

“You don’t-”

“Yeah, no shit.”

“No, you idiot. I wasn’t done. You don’t have to compete with him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look, you didn’t hear it from me. And if you say I told you, I’ll deny it. And, I’m not sure how it changes things now that… well…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Aly’s in love with you. She told Si right after that almost kiss or whatever. Same night you told me.”

“And you’ve been sitting on this information for a year?!” I screeched. How could he keep this from me, especially after I told him I liked her?

“Okay, 1.) Si only told me after the talent show, so I’ve only been sitting on this for 4 months. 2.) You said you wanted to grow up first because that you didn’t wanna risk fucking up the friendship. 3.) You guys were and are still in different relationships. And 4.) you’re both in love with those different people now.”

“So, I had my chance and I blew it by being with Kayla.”

“You didn’t blow anything, dude. Or if you did, she blew it first by telling you no. You both did what anyone facing rejection would do, get with someone who didn’t reject you.”

“I didn’t reject her, though.”

“Look, the end of high school is a year away and most high school relationships will end with it. Just wait it out. You waited this long, what’s a little longer?”

“So, I just suffer through another year, praying her relationship crumbles and she comes crying to me?”

“Well, you don’t have to suffer. Live it up with Kayla. She’s a sweet girl, and you guys do love each other, right?”

“We do, and she is.”

“See? So just hang in there a bit longer. You going to the Navy instead of college after graduation will end your relationship with Kayla for you, so you don’t have to worry about that. And being at separate colleges will take care of Calum dating Lyssa.”

“And why in the hell would Aly get with me after ending things with Calum if they break up because of distance? Separate colleges is one thing, but I’ll literally be in different countries from time to time.”

“Because you and Aly have already proven you guys can love each other without being with each other. And no one said to get with her right after the break up. You gotta give yourselves time to get over Calum and Kayla.”

I rolled my eyes. He made it sound so easy. “If you say so.”

“I know so, bro. Just hang in there, and enjoy the ride.”

After we hung up, I laid there for a long while, just staring up at the ceiling. So my feelings for Aly were reciprocated and we had just been too young and dumb to do anything about it. And by doing so, we had fallen in love with other people. But that didn’t mean that we had missed our chance. It just meant our timing was off. And the next time the time was right, I wouldn’t back down. I wouldn’t run scared like I did last year. The next time I had my chance, I was gonna take it.

I took Luke’s advice and bided my time. Through every class, lunch break, band practice, soccer game, and everything in between, I waited. Through every kiss they shared and rant she spewed to me about him, I watched, listened, and clung a little tighter to Kayla to drown out my feelings.

The only time I could breathe without feeling like there was a weight on my chest was when I thought about my plans for after graduation. I had been set on joining the Navy after graduation since I was a kid and that never changed as I grew older. The rest were going off to various colleges for various reasons: Aly to study music, Calum off to play soccer with a hope of going pro, Kayla, Luke, and Sierra off to become regular hard working professionals. It was the only time when conversations got individualistic, which gave me hope that I stood a chance. 

When Prom rolled around, I put on my best face and tried not to look too much at Aly and Calum. “Go dance with her,” Kayla whispered to me after she caught me looking at them again.

I shook my head as I processed her words. “What? No. Baby, I’m here with you. I want to dance with you.”

She gently cupped my face in her hands. “I know you, Ashton. You might not think I do, but I do. Go dance with her. You know you’ll regret it if you don’t.”

I kissed her softly. God, this girl was so great and deserved so much better than a guy like me who was only half in it most of the time. She was an idiot for loving me, and I was an asshole for not letting her go. “Thank you,” I said before crossing the dance floor to Aly. I tapped her shoulder, clearing my throat.

“Ash!” she laughed, throwing her arms around me. “Isn’t this night great?!”

I smiled at her. She was loud and unafraid to live each moment as she felt it. And as much as I truly did love the softer spoken girl on the other side of the room, I was and would always be absolutely in love with a girl who hugged me too tight. “It’s definitely one worth remembering,” I answered, still smiling.

“So, what’s up?” she asked, releasing me with a frown. “Why aren’t you dancing with Kayla?”

“I… uh… I wanted to dance with you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Just one, y’know. You are my best friend after all, and it’d be a waste if we didn’t share at least one dance,” I justified.

“Okay,” she nodded before reaching up to whisper something to Calum.

He raised his eyebrows at whatever she told him. When he looked over at me, I was expecting a glare, but instead he offered a smile and a quick “She won’t admit it, but she’s been waiting for you to ask all night,” as he clapped my shoulder and stepped aside. 

When she reached for my hand, I took it and pulled her close, noticing how delicate this loudmouth girl I’d known for practically my whole life actually was. I started to sway her back and forth as the music changed. When the first few notes rang out, she tilted her head back and giggled, “It’s our song!”

I listened a little harder and chuckled with her as the song began to sing the words I had sung with her last year at the talent show. “So, it is.”

“Now, this night is perfect,” she said, her voice soft as she gently laid her head against my shoulder.

“I thought it was already perfect.”

She shook her head, then peered up at me, her hair hiding her face from mine. I unconsciously brushed her hair back out of her face, and noticed her blush as I did so. “I said it was great. Dancing with you makes it perfect. No offense to Cal. I mean, he’s great and I love him. But I always wanted to dance with you at Prom. Like it’d still be a great night and all, but it wouldn’t be complete without dancing with my best friend. Y’know?”

I smiled at her words as I kissed the top of her head, the closest to kissing her that I could get without crossing any major lines. Her words were as close to a confession as I was likely to get for the time being, and just the type of assurance I secretly needed to keep waiting. Then again, I’d probably wait forever for this girl if I had to. “I know just what you mean,” I told her as I continued to hold her close to me. This was a moment I knew I’d never forget as long as I lived.

A month later, a week after graduation, I was packing up a few of my things at my mom’s before heading off to summer training with the Navy. “Ashton?” a soft voice called from the doorway, combined with an equally soft knock on the open door.

“Hey, Kay,” I said, dusting my hands off on my shorts. “Give me like one minute to clean up a bit?” I wanted to enjoy one last dinner with her before I left, but I didn’t want to be covered in dust and sweat.

“Um, actually, can we talk?” she asked, moving to sit on the edge of my bed, fiddling with her fingers, not making eye contact with me.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, sitting in my desk chair and scooting over to her. “What’s up?”

She looked up at me for a brief second before dropping her gaze. “Um… I… we…”

With one hand I grabbed both of hers to still them, and with my other, I cupped her chin, gently raising her head to look at me. “Kay, what’s wrong, baby? Tell me,” I coaxed.

“I think we should break up.”

“Oh…”

“It’s nothing you did. You’ve been great. It’s just…”

“It’s just I’m leaving and you need someone who’s gonna be around. I get it,” I said. I mean, I did love Kayla, but this was also a moment I knew was coming, even before Luke pointed it out to me last summer. As sweet as a girl as she was and as much as I enjoyed my time with her, we weren’t meant for beyond high school, and I think we both knew that.

“Well, yeah… and… did you ever really love me?” Tears were now in her eyes as she asked the question she’d no doubt been dreading asking for the entirety of our year and a half long relationship.

“What? Of course, I love you.” I moved my thumb across her cheek to catch the stray tears as they fell.

“Ashton... I think you know what I mean. You love her, don’t you?”

I sighed. Then, I nodded. “Yeah,” I eventually croaked out. “I think I always have.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“But, I love you, too. I haven’t been pretending to be with you. I’ve really liked being your boyfriend.”

She turned her hands in mine, so she was holding mine between both of hers. “I know, Ashton. And I’m not angry. High school’s really hard if you don’t have somebody, y’know?”

I nodded. “I’m so sorry, Kay. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like a second choice or that I was leading you on. But, please know that every feeling I’ve felt towards you has been real. This was real, I promise.”

“I know it was, Ashton. You were a really good boyfriend. Good luck, with everything.” She reached forward to kiss my cheek. “Lyssa’s a lucky girl.” She wiped her eyes before standing up.

I held on gently as she pulled out of my grasp. “I’m so sorry. You deserved so much better than someone who was half in it,” I told her as I let my hand drop, feeling a wetness on my own cheeks. I was the world’s biggest asshole for breaking the heart of the world’s sweetest girl.

“Oh, Ashton. If this last year and a half was you being half in, you’re still the best boyfriend by miles.”

I sat there after she left with my head in my hands. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting it to hurt this bad.

“Whoa, it’s actually clean in here,” the always louder-than-necessary laugh sounded, dragging me out of my thoughts.

“Hey, Aly,” I smiled a watery smile, already feeling better about my break up with Kayla.

“What happened?” she asked, noticing my puffy eyes and red nose. She took a seat on the edge of my bed, the blanket still slightly wrinkled from when Kayla had sat there.

I sniffed and wiped at my face. “Kay and I just broke up.”

Her face softened and she reached out to grab my hands. “Oh, Ash. I’m sorry. I know you loved her.”

I shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m leaving tomorrow and she needs someone who’s not gonna be all over the map,” I admitted half of the truth.

“I mean, yeah, the distance isn’t exactly ideal. But, she didn't even want to try? That’s fuckin blows.”

“It’s fine, Aly. Honestly, it was probably a long time coming. Every time we talked about plans beyond high school, she got this look when I’d bring up the Navy.”

“A heartbreak is still a heartbreak, Ash. Wanna go downtown and grab a bite?”

“Sure,” I said, perking up a little. Of all the people to share one of my last meals in town with, Aly would always be my top choice.

As I sat across the table from Aly, I couldn’t help but notice all the differences between her and Kayla and realized that Kayla was the soft rain and Aly was the thunderstorm. And while I was a sucker for the sound of soft rain, I would choose the storm every time.

“You sure look happy for someone who just got dumped,” Aly commented.

“No place else I’d rather be and no one else I’d rather be with,” I told her truthfully.

She snorted into her shake, causing bubbles to form in the chocolate goo. “I’m really gonna miss you, you know that?”

“You’ll be fine. You’re sharing a dorm with Si, and you got Calum.”

She shrugged. “It’s no Ashton Irwin across the street, though.”

It was my turn to snort into my drink, the carbonation from the soda tickling my nose. “Aly, I’m a loser, let’s face it. The only way I can do something worthwhile with my life is to ship myself across the world, and my own girlfriend couldn’t get rid of me quick enough. I'm a nobody.” It was half a joke and half the truth. The reality was that I only wanted to be somebody if that somebody was Alyssa Clifford’s future.

She rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath something I don’t think I was meant to hear but heard anyway. “Oh, Ash… don’t you see that you’re everything?”

[writeyouin]

aaahh, thank you so much!! you're definitely cooler, tho òwó since the thighs of thunder comment has inspired me so, how bout a pre-game scenario in which best friends Jack, Will, and reader are hanging out at an ice cream shop or something and during their convo reader "casually" comments that Jack is hella fine, in so many words? maybe she drops the thighs of thunder comment verbatim, LMAO. their reactions are up to you. female preferred, neutral's fine too! (I hope this isn't too vague ;v;)

Jack Joyce X Reader – A Hypothesis

A/N – Ahh, my first fic in awhile, I hope you enjoy it Quantum Anon.

Warnings – Mild language.

Rating – T

The sun cast a warm glow over Riverport, reminding the small town that summer was coming and it was going to be a hot one. You, Will and Jack were seated on a small metal table under the awning of Gabrielle’s, Riverport’s favourite long-time Ice Cream Parlour. Sixties music played lazily from the building’s speakers, setting up the perfect atmosphere for friendly conversations. The general mood from the staff and families inside the building were generally happy since the Ice Cream parlour had recently been saved from bankruptcy by a new company, though you couldn’t remember the name of it; Monty Solutions, or something similar.

All in all, it should have been a marvellous day, and it would have been, if it wasn’t for the on-going tensions between the Joyce brothers. Unless things got better between Will and Jack quickly, you knew Jack would leave Riverport. That was why you’d suggested the outing in the first place; evidently it was a mistake to do so.

“Unbelievable, Will!” Jack exploded from your left, making you flinch. “Seriously, I cannot believe you.”

“As is the definition of unbelievable,” Will countered snarkily from your right.

“Asking me to give up my inheritance for you over some half-baked scheme is crazy. You won’t even tell me what it is!”

“How many times? It’s not a scheme, it’s a scientific endeavour.”

“Call it what you want. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re insane.”

“And you’re insufferable.”

Jack threw up his arms frustratedly, “Why are you even here? (Y/N), why is he here?”

Will rolled his eyes, “I could ask the same thing if it wasn’t so painfully obvious.”

Both men fell silent, turning their hard gazes to you, though Jack softened marginally. You gave an awkward half-smile, having hoped neither of the brothers would have commented on the fact you’d invited them out under false pretences. Both originally thought that it would only be you and them individually; you knew if you’d have told them the truth they wouldn’t have come.

“C’mon guys, it’s not that bad, is it?” You asked helplessly.

“Yes,” They answered simultaneously.

Will’s chair scraped against the sidewalk as he got up, “That’s it. I’m done.”

Irritated by the quick turn of events, you slammed your fist against the table, “Sit down this instant.”

Will eyed you carefully, lowering himself back into his seat. He doubted he would have done the same for anyone else, but he cared about you greatly, even if he didn’t often show it. When the Joyce brothers’ parents passed away and Jack assumed responsibility for Will, you and Paul were the only ones from Jack’s original friend group to stick around through the bad times. As such, Will had grown a sort of detached fondness for you, like you were another sibling there to settle the arguments between him and Jack when they hit a stalemate.

“I invited you both out so we could have a nice day, just like the old times. Remember when we used to come here after school and talk about whatever was bothering us? Jack, when it was your finals, Will helped you study algebra here, and Will, when those idiots in class started bullying you, Jack taught you how to throw a punch here. Now it’s your turn to sit down and stop arguing for one day for me, because this may very well be the last day we get together like this. Can you do that?”

Jack looked away sullenly, mumbling a rushed, “Yeah.”

You glanced at Will who nodded curtly, embarrassed at being reprimanded by you.

“Good. I’m going inside to order now and when I get back, I expect to find the two of you talking nicely.”

Once you’d left Jack spoke again, “Jeez, looks like we made mom mad.”

Will wrinkled his nose disgustedly, “Gross. Don’t tell me you see (Y/N) in a parental light. That is hardly appropriate.”

“What are you talking about? You’re always saying stuff like that.”

“Exactly.”

“What? Wait, you’ve lost me.”

Will sighed, hating that he had to explain the paths his mind took, as usual; he might not have been as agitated about it if he and Jack hadn’t been arguing only minutes before. All the same, he tried to explain his thought-process to Jack, “Okay, think of (Y/N)’s relationship with you like… like an egg.”

“An egg?” Jack echoed.

Will could see from Jack’s confused expression that it wasn’t the time for metaphors. “Okay, forget the egg. Long story short, (Y/N) has a crush on you, so you can’t ever make a parent joke again.”

Jack leaned back in his chair, chuckling to himself, any previous anger towards Will forgotten. “You think (Y/N) has a crush on me?”

“No. I know (Y/N) has a crush on you.”

“No offense Will, but you’re hardly good at reading people.”

“Once again, you’ve proved my point. I,” Will pointed to himself, “Can’t read social cues. It’s rare that I’m ever sure what people think or feel, so when I say I know-”

“-You know,” Jack finished thoughtfully. “Alright, I’m game. How do we prove your crazy hypothesis?”

Will looked through the parlour window to make sure you weren’t coming out any time soon. There were a few people in front of you, so he figured he had some time if he spoke as fast as his mind went. He leaned closer to Jack, “Okay. You’re basically a male chimp.”

Jack raised an eyebrow, “A chimp…”

“Yes, keep up. In the wild, male chimps show their interest in mates by displaying their genetalia-”

Jack pointed warningly at Will, “If you’re suggesting for even a second that I send a dick pick-”

Will slapped Jack over the head, “Don’t be disgusting. I was going to say if we translate that behaviour to a socially acceptable equivalent, all you need to do is show you’re a worthy partner through a feat of skill or strength that highlights your muscles. See that guy behind the counter about to serve (Y/N)?”

Rubbing his sore head, Jack turned to examine a gangly forty-something man with an unflattering porn-stache. “Yeah.”

“You have to assert your dominance by punching him.”

Jack stared at Will disbelievingly, “I’m not punching some random guy.”

“He’s not random. I picked him because he short-changed me the last time I was here.”

“Fine, then I’m not punching some guy because you don’t like him.”

“Well then what do you propose?”

“Gee, I don’t know,” Jack replied sarcastically, “how about I just ask (Y/N) how (s)he feels about me?”

“We’ll call that plan B.”

“I’m not punching-”

“Quiet, (Y/N)’s coming.”

You took your seat between the pair, “Ice cream will be here soon. Did you two find something nice to talk about while I was away?”

“Sort of,” Jack smiled playfully.

“’Kay, then hit me with it.”

“The guy behind the counter is a menace to society,” Will jumped in.

You nodded agreeably, “Tell me about it. He tried to short-change me. I should have decked him for it.”

“See,” Will said to Jack. “I told you my plan would have worked.”

“Plan?”

Jack was practically grinning from ear to ear, “Yeah, Will had a pretty fun hypothesis.”

“Do tell,” You said eagerly, awaiting yet another one of Will’s crazy theories that you had grown accustomed to over the years.

Will looked away awkwardly. You turned your attention to Jack, wondering exactly what you had accidently stumbled upon.

“(Y/N), do you have a crush on me?” Jack said, waiting eagerly for you to get flustered.

Instead, you answered coolly, “Sure I do. Who could resist those thunder-thighs you got?”

Just then, a server came out with a tray of ice-cream sundaes. Before she could pass them out, Will got up and grabbed his off the tray. “I don’t want to be here for this,” He said, heading for a table inside.

The server didn’t even bat an eyelid at the unusual scene. She placed a sundae in front of you and another in front of Jack who was laughing into the palm of his hand, practically convulsing, and without a word went back inside.

“THUNDER THIGHS!” Jack sputtered in hysterics.

You smiled. “I didn’t hear you deny it.”

Once his laughter had subsided somewhat, Jack looked at you quizzically. “Seriously, what does that even mean?”

You grabbed your spoon, tucking into your ice cream before gracing Jack with an answer. “Remember in high school when you decided to join the football team?”

“Yeah.”

“Back then I only went to those dumb games to watch you play.”

“And here was me thinking it was for the love of the sport,” Jack quipped.

“Alright, I get it, you knew that already. What you don’t know is that I led you to believe I was there to support you, but really I just went to watch you in those cute gym shorts. When you tackled, you looked great, or rather, your thighs did.”

“I think you’ll find all of me looks amazing; if you weren’t so focused on my thighs, you’d have noticed that by now.”

“Oh God, don’t tell me I inflated your ego further,” You groaned.

“While it was obviously indecent of you to stare so brazenly at me, especially without an escort, I find myself flattered that you think I’m the most beautiful creature you’ve ever laid your eyes on.”

“Careful or I’ll find someone else to stare at.”

“It’s far too late for that. At your age, it’s time to settle down with someone, before you’re put out to pasture. That’s why I’m going to make a one of a kind offer to you. If you go out with me tonight, I promise you won’t die alone… My thighs will be there too.”

You rested your hand over his, smiling the entire time, “Well, when you put it that way, I’d say you have yourself a date Mr Joyce… Should we call Will back now?”

Jack glanced through the shop window where Will was sat at the back, eyeing the two of you cautiously. “Give it a few more minutes. I think if we both stare at him for a while, the paranoia might break him.”

“What an interesting hypothesis.”

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[bearpillowmonster]

Butch Hartman

More recently things have been appearing about Butch Hartman and what he is doing, I just kind of want to give a bit of my perspective on it.

Butch came into the realm of the internet through YouTube and various other outlets, I was always speculative about this because of the way he was presenting himself. It’s like he’s trying to be a YouTuber to get views, when he was already so much more than that and doesn’t have to become like that. That’s why I don’t like seeing celebrities getting YouTube channels who are already famous because they normally think that that is how you become a YouTuber, through views and click count, subscribers, where is the passion? It just makes it seem fake. He would take popular trending things and put a spin on them by drawing them, some of the stuff I think he did understand but some of it I think he just did it to do it while plugging. He acted all high and mighty when in reality he has a small amount of subscribers, it almost seems like the norm to have over a 100k subscribers now and days and he has 700k which is good but he’s just not the biggest YouTuber or internet personality on the planet. Some people do look at him as this big high and mighty guy but because of this, I didn’t, I took him with a grain of salt and thought he was alright.

Now the first accusation I want to address is the Mary Kay situation. I watched the video here it is around 2:30 (couldn’t find just the clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFp5iojguU&t=182s

He says that she sadly passed away, keep in mind he has child viewers and is a filtered person in general, I mean that’s what Oaxis is even about! So he doesn’t mention too much of her considering it was suicide. Now he makes a joke saying “Tara had something to do with that” which is uncalled for but I see posts that put it in a much worse light saying that he jokes about suicide, he wasn’t joking about suicide, he was joking about Tara, not even Mary Kay. However there was a convention that Butch attended that I believe was a religious event. I’m religious so I roll with that, however he mentions that suicide wasn’t really a problem back in the day and it is now because of media. Now that’s not me quoting it, you can find the video yourself, because I couldn’t find just the clip or good enough quality. But what he says is a very “old person” thing to say. You can’t hide the fact that Butch is 53, he’s going to have opinions based on the time that he was born, he may display himself to be trendy as I mentioned before, but obviously that’s an ignorant thing to say. Suicide has been around for a long long time and yes it has risen but that’s partially because it’s gotten harder, not so much media influence. I know about suicide because I’ve talked to and been good friends with people who have attempted it and even tried to help them out of it, it’s a scary situation and makes me depressed thinking about it.

The people that say he’s “lying” about Oaxis seems kind of dumb to me. Yes there was lack of information but I don’t really see any lies. I personally wouldn’t really mind it being a Christian based platform, I mean look at Veggietales but I also don’t think it’s right to not display it as just that and then reveal it afterwards, which is what I think everyone sees it as, but it’s on his twitter that it won’t be a Christian based platform so if that ends up being a lie then by all means, but until Oaxis is released and we actually get to see what it is exactly, I would just hold it in. Also the kickstarter reward system was stupid and wonk but we knew that going in from the start. The refunds being denied and comments being shut down seem kind of ridiculous, I think part of that is Butch’s team, not so much him (do you really think he edits his own stuff? xD) Honestly though, if everyone just decided to back out of an already successful and completed kickstarter before it’s even begun to develop then I would see why they’re cautious, because they don’t want to lose all the funding but I hope some light comes to this soon.

The big thing that rubbed me the wrong way was when he said that “Introverts are self-centered” in one of his speech bubbles. I wouldn't call that being an introvert or any of the “sitting in a corner” that he talks about, I'm an introvert, and I have ideas ready to communicate but nobody will listen to them. It's finding people that understand, fellow artists, creative people and yes introverts alike. I agree with the whole "you have to be ready thing" but it's not that simple. He's saying how introverts are "self centered" but how self centered is that to think that way, stereotyping to the max. He has this big ego and acting like introverts have one, that’s just lack of misunderstanding. Funny how he mentions the “not being able to communicate ideas” thing but his Oaxis kickstarter says otherwise.

Video Link to where he says this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2RvN6XtYZ0

Now the big livestream incident. This question and how Butch took it, I can see being taken two different ways. The question was if he saw the Family Guy Oaxis meme. First Butch could’ve just ignored the question but idk. Now we didn’t know the way this guy was asking, he could’ve been a troll showing him this meme that goes against what Oaxis is, therefore offensive. Or he could’ve just been informing him of it, asking him if he knew it was there and kinda warning him. I would’ve liked to see a response from the dude in the chat but I couldn’t find such evidence. Now Butch’s answer is very long winded and confusing but he’s also playing a video game, when someone is talking to me when I’m playing a game, I’m only half there because I’m focused on the game at the moment, he even says “what will get a rise out of me is this game” kind of brushing it off. Now who exactly is Butch’s response aimed towards? Nobody really knows, because he could just be talking about the guy who made the meme which makes it a little bit more justifiable.

link to livestream highlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikQR9-nmcPY

The other thoughts are that it could be aimed towards everybody or it could be aimed at the person who asked it. Well apparently the guy who asked the question has a Youtube channel and revealed that he wasn’t trolling, he was actually really broken up about how Butch said this. Butch mentions early on that he wasn’t even going to say his name, that could be because he didn’t want to bring attention to him though...

The guy’s name is also DuelingDuelistDrew, kind of a tongue twister, so there’s that. I’m trying to be as justified as possible here but I would say that if Butch Hartman made a response it would just bring more attention to the matter but also cover him a little bit to kind of prove it wrong. I didn’t expect a follow up...until I saw DuelingDuelistDrew’s video about how he says Butch Hartman butchered his childhood and basically broke his heart. That is definitely reason enough for Butch to make a video, an apology, because he hurt this guy’s feelings. Shame on him if he doesn’t now because of all the added baggage that he could address at least briefly as well in that video. I will say that DDD has made a few videos since then of Butch Hartman and Oaxis memes, which kind of defeats the non-hateful speech thing that Oaxis was all about. That was why Butch didn’t like the Family Guy meme, because it slandered his message. However I don’t think Butch has any problem with Family Guy in general, I mean he’s friends with Seth Macfarlane.

Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFXcPxYVXhU&t=466s

I’m not going to be the judge of this fiasco but there’s my two cents. All I ask is that you be better and if you fight, then fight in a peaceful manner, it’s not the message you’re trying to hurt, that’s why people endorsed Oaxis in the first place because they liked the message, so create it within yourself.

[carrot-cat17]

Bravery - Chapter 2

Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

Seven Souls (and Sans) Chrono

Sans digs his hole a little deeper.

Read on AO3 here

~ ~ ~

This was wrong.

What had he gotten himself into!? Sans did his best to keep up the appearance that everything was fine, but for pete’s sake there was a human being walking next to him! He had just made friends with the enemy. Invited them to come further into the Underground. He should have left her there; gotten Greatest Dog or something. But she’d been so alone...Sans couldn’t pretend he didn’t know how that felt. And now that she knew how...how dust worked...there was no way she could be a threat.

But Asgore would want her.

No, not her. Her soul. Sans grinned at his new friend outwardly, but inside he was screaming.

Nothing about this was a good idea. Why couldn’t someone else have found her?

“hey, so...we’re getting close to town.”

“Town? There’s a town down here?”

“yeah, there’re actually quite a few. but this one’s called snowdin.”

“Oh...I’d always thought you guys just lived in burrows or...made nests or something…”

Sans couldn’t help but laugh. “we’re not dumb animals, kiddo. whaddya take me for, a squirrel? not that i’m afraid of heights or anything but i can’t really see myself living in a tree.”

“Sorry,” Jack laughed, blushing a little. “I...guess I don’t know much about monsters. I didn’t offend you, did I?” Jack was blushing now.

“nah, you’re fine. we’ve uh...been trapped down here for a long time. i wouldn’t expect you humans to have all the facts anymore.” Sans couldn’t help but frown a little. Odds were high that this kid’s perception of history was probably a bit different than his own.

He looked up at the trees around them. They were beginning to thin out; get a little smaller. They really were getting close. Sans was going to have to figure out what to do with this kid. They couldn’t just waltz into town...could they? Jack’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Yeah, I guess so...we have a brief unit in our history courses in school, I guess, but mostly it just covers the war and...the barrier thing or whatever?”

“so you guys call it the barrier still, too, hunh?” Sans shot her a half-hearted smile. “eh, that makes sense i guess. kinda hard to write a history about a group that hasn’t been seen in, like, forever.”

Silence wedged itself between the two as they walked, broken only by the occasional chatter of the kid’s teeth. Finally, Jack spoke up.

“Sans?”

“mm?” he grunted. He could already tell where this was going by the tone of her voice.

“You...weren’t around when the Barrier was made...were you?”

Sans came to a halt. He knew where he had to take this conversation, but he didn’t want to.

“nope,” he finally answered. “‘m too young for that. that happened a long time ago. i don’t think there are many monsters left that were around at the time. i’ve heard of a few who were there. there’s an old tortoise that likes to tell stories to kids when he can remember them. but...i think that generation’s pretty much gone.”

“So you’ve...never seen the sun before?”

She just had to ask that question, didn’t she?

Sans chuckled sadly. “i’m afraid i haven’t, kiddo.”

Jack got quiet. Looked down at the ground.

“but hey...maybe...maybe someday i’ll get to, eh? king’s got a plan-”

“King?”

Here we go.

“uh...yeah. the king. king asgore. he, uh...he thinks he might know how to break the barrier. from our side, that is. but…”

“But maybe it’d be easier if it was broken from our side!” Jack exclaimed. I could go back up there and tell everyone that you guys are still down here! That we need to make amends! We could break the Barrier and let you all out!”

“well, yeah, that would probably be easier, but i dunno if anything can get back out once it’s gotten in.”

Should he tell her about the king’s angry decree? Most definitely yes. So why couldn’t Sans bring himself to say it? This girl was in more and more danger every minute she spent down here! But if the rumors were true, nothing could get out through that Barrier unless its soul was powerful enough. What the heck was he going to do now?

“hey i think i see the town up ahead,” he said, changing the subject. Perhaps he could give this a little more thought later. For now he needed to get her somewhere safe. “but, uh...we need to lay down some ground rules before we go in.”

Jack shivered a little again, but said nothing, looking at him expectantly.

“for one thing, let me do the talking, kay? i know the people in this town pretty well, and i also know some of them can be pretty nosy. but i’ll make sure we get what we need without too much hassle.”

“Why would they be nosy? Don’t you guys ever get visitors?”

“well, yeah, but not from the surface.” Sans said, trying not to grit his teeth. This was a horrible idea.

“so for another thing...basically i’m kinda thinking it would be wise of us to not bring attention to the fact that you’re a human for now.”

“Why? Wouldn’t people be excited?”

“well,” Sans tugged at the collar of his jacket for a moment. “no offense, but my history classes kinda taught me to fear humans. i don’t think you realise how powerful you are compared to us. even a kid as young as you can wipe out-”

Jack was looking a little uncomfortable.

“-uh, yeah...guess you kinda figured that one out on your own, hunh?” Whoops. “a-anyway, i just don’t think it would be a good idea to announce the arrival of a human to a bunch of people who grew up learning to be scared of them. so, um...actually! here!”

Sans stepped out of the slippers he forgot to change before heading out and took off his socks. He gave them a sniff and held them out to the human with a somewhat apologetic look.

“What?”

“put ‘em on.”

“Like, on my feet?”

Sans stepped back into his slippers. “nah, i was thinking more like over your ears or something.”

“EW! No way am I doing that! Those came off your feet!” Jack gave them a sniff and cringed. “When did you last wash these anyway!?”

Sans sighed. “look, kid, sorry, i was supposed to do laundry today. but-” should he tell her about Papyrus? Or would it be safer for everyone if no one knew about each other. Papyrus had a tendency to get a little...attached…to anyone he met. And besides, he was training to be in the Royal Guard; that could spell trouble. It would probably be safer for now if he didn’t.

“-i’m a bit of a lazybones. but i figure this is as a good a disguise as i can give you right now. there’s lots of bunnies in snowdin. you hang those socks from your bandana thing and you’ll...sorta look like a bunny.

Jack looked at the socks in her hand, eyebrows knitting together in a scowl. “Okay, fine. But I don't see how anyone is going to be fooled by a couple of socks.”

“you’d be surprised,” Sans replied, hoping he was right. Most everybody in Snowdin at least had never seen a human before. So maybe they could slip by without too many questions. Sans steeled himself and took the lead as they approached the first couple of buildings.

Unfortunately, it was evening. The snow-covered streets of the town were teeming with monsters, many on their way home from work.

Which reminded him. Dinner.

Sans palmed his skull. “awe man, i can’t believe i almost forgot! we gotta grab some things before we head home. remember: let me do all the talking, kay?”

The girl beside him nodded. It was only then that Sans realised how blue her lips had gotten.

“whoa, you okay? you look chilled to the bone!” Sans shrugged his jacket off while he inwardly chided himself for forgetting one of the most basic rules of etiquette. She’d been shivering the whole way into town! How could he have not registered that until now!?

“T-t-thanks, Sans. I-i-it’s a little cold here!”

“heh, well in case you haven't figured it out yet, i’m not the most observant person. next time just say something. i don’t want you freezing to death on my account!” Sans winked. “kay, get ready. we’re gonna duck in here for a minute,” he said, turning to open the door to Snowdin’s most popular shop.

“How the heck is this jacket so warm? You’ve got no skin or blood!”

“magic,” he quipped without looking back. “now shut up.” Now it was his turn to feel cold. Time to go inside.

“Haha, that’s a good one- you’re joking right? What’s the real answer?”

“for once, i’m not. now shh!” Sans pushed her inside and shut the cold out behind them.

“Hey y’all,” came the call from the back of the store. “Sans? My goodness, is that you?”

Across the room, leaning against the front of the checkout counter was a large rabbit with a droopy hat and even droopier eyes, dressed in nothing but a tank top and capris despite the perpetually cold weather outside. But then rabbits were pretty good at keeping warm. She pushed herself up and walked over to meet them, twirling a candy cane between her fingers.

“hey, petal. ‘s’good to see you. i need to get some stuff for dinner tonight.”

Jack was looking all around the store in awe. But thankfully she was staying quiet.

“And who’s your lovely friend, here?” The large rabbit asked.

“oh, more like a friend of a friend or something like that. she’s stayin’ with me for a bit while she passes through. she’s on her way to…to...the capital...to visit family.” Sans hoped and prayed he could pass this off.

“Well ain’t that just wonderful! What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Jack looked up at the bunny, a little caught off guard. She shot a quick glance at Sans for approval before clearing her throat. “Jack. My name is Jack, ma’am.”

Petal bent down to give her a hug and the candy cane. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss Jack. No, no, keep it, darlin’. It’s yours!” Then she turned to look at Sans. “So what do you need for tonight, honey?”

“y’know that veggie soup i used to make all the time? yeah that one. i need stuff for that tonight. o-oh and maybe a couple o’ cinnamon bunnies for after, too.”

“Sure thing!” she winked at him before disappearing into the back part of the store. Sans could feel the tension in his scapulae ease.

“That is one big bunny!” Jack piped up, inspecting a collection of surface-world keychains. “Hey, Texas! That’s where I’m from!” She picked up the keychain and twirled it a few times. “Where I come from, bunnies are small. Like, super small. And they don’t talk.”

“well, i imagine skeletons don’t either. ‘s a different world down here,” Sans replied, trying to peer into the doorway Petal and gone through. Before Jack could respond, the large bunny returned, a couple of sacks in her beefy arms.

“Here you are, honey. That everything for you tonight?”

“sure is, ma’am. thanks a ton!”

“That’ll be 50G, then.”

Sans handed the bags off to his companion and dug in his pants pocket for his wallet. He counted out the fee and ushered the kid out the door.

He turned to wave before following her out. “thanks again, petal. you’re the best.”

“Anytime, Sans,” Petal replied, returning to her spot in front of the counter. “And Sans?”

“yeah?”

“That poor girl doesn’t need your socks anywhere near her face.”

Sans laughed nervously. “she, uh...she insisted her ears were cold…”

Time to make his exit. He could hear Petal laughing as he closed the door behind him. Man, that cold air suddenly felt really refreshing!

“What’s wrong with you?” Jack asked, scrutinizing him.

“you can take the socks off if you want.”

She looked confused for a moment. Then she laughed.

“Thanks, Sans. I was starting to get a little light-headed there!”

“hey, c’mon, they’re not that bad, are they?” He grinned, taking the socks back.

“Let’s just say having these socks in my face is worse than getting socked in the face!” she winked.

Sans laughed. “good one, kid.”

~ ~ ~

They reached the house just as the last rays of light from above faded away.

“Wow, it sure gets dark down here…” Jack said in a small voice. “...and I thought it was dark before...”

Sans said nothing. He was too busy wondering how the heck he was going to explain coming home several hours late. And with a complete stranger. The whole way home, no one had screamed, “a human! A human!” which was a plus. But if word got out that Jack was a human, they’d both be in some serious trouble.

“okay, uh…so just so you know, my little brother lives with me. he’s pretty...um, he can be kinda weird at first. but i promise he’s cool.”

“You have a brother!? That’s awesome!” Jack’s eyes lit up. “I have one, too! Actually a couple! But they’re all older than me.” Her face fell a little. “...I’ll bet they’re beginning to wonder where I am…”

Sans shifted uncomfortably. He really needed to tell her the truth about Asgore. But he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. “i’m sure they are,” was all he could finally force out.

Suddenly, the front door flew open, flooding the front step with warm light.

“SANS! THERE YOU ARE! I WAS BEGINNING TO WONDER IF I SHOULD GO OUT AND LOOK FOR YO- WHO’S THIS?”

Welp. Too late to come up with any plans.

“hey paps, sorry, i...got a little sidetracked...this is jack. she’s just passing through. needs a place to stay for the night. ‘s’that okay?”

“YOU MADE A FRIEND!? SANS, YOU MADE A FRIEND! I’M SO PROUD OF YOU! GET IN HERE, BOTH OF YOU!” Papyrus whisked them inside.

“PLEASE, JACK, MAKE YOURSELF RIGHT AT HOME- OR, AT LEAST, THE PARTS OF HOME THAT DON’T BELONG TO ME OR SANS. OH GOODNESS, I WISH YOU WOULD HAVE CALLED, BROTHER; I COULD HAVE CLEANED UP A LITTLE! I HAD NO IDEA WE WERE HAVING A GUEST!”

“the place looks fine, papyrus. heh. any cleaner and you probably wouldn’t let me in!”

“THAT’S JUST THE SORT OF THING YOU WOULD SAY...IT’S A PIGSTY IN HERE! AND I COULD HAVE SHOWN OFF MY AMAZING CULINARY SKILLS-”

“-that! won’t be necessary,” Sans butted in before Papyrus had the chance to get any dangerous ideas. “i got the stuff. so we can have our soup. remember?” He cast a sidelong glance at the kid. She look slightly bewildered, but amused. That was usually about average for meeting Papyrus the first time.

“OH. RIGHT. WELL, JACK, YOU WILL SIMPLY HAVE TO SEE IF YOU CAN STAY ANOTHER NIGHT. THEN YOU CAN TRY MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI!”

“That sounds wonderful!” Jack replied, looking to Sans for guidance as Papyrus took her hand in both of his and vigorously shook it. Sans smiled and shrugged. If she stayed long enough, she’d learn sooner than later.

“welp, i’m gonna make this soup, kay? if you wanted, paps, you could take this opportunity to clean up the house some.”

“AN EXCELLENT IDEA, BROTHER! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL DO JUST THAT!”

Papyrus ran off to the broom closet. Sans jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen. “c’mon. we’ve got some soup to make.”

They headed into the kitchen, the sounds of Papyrus singing at the top of his metaphorical lungs blasting from around corner. The vacuum did little to drown him out.

“so whaddya think of my bro?” he asked as he began taking ingredients out of the sacks. “oh, hey; do you wanna grab me a pot from under the sink? thanks.”

“He’s...interesting, to say the least…” Jack replied, coming over with a dented stock pot. “-Wow, your sink is tall! -I like him, though. He seems very confident.”

“yeah, if there was ever a word to describe paps, it would probably be ‘confident.’” Sans chuckled. “i’m pretty proud of how he turned out. i know of no one who’s braver and kinder than he is. heh. he hasn’t got a bad bone in his body! hand me those carrots, will ya?”

Jack laughed and obliged.

“Has he always been like this?” she asked. Sans gave her a knife and an onion.

“for the most part, yeah. hey, can you stir while i add this stuff?” he replied, peeling a potato. “he used to be pretty self-conscious. honestly i think he still is; he’s just gotten really good at hiding it. he always wants to make everyone happy, y’know?”

“That reminds me of Louis - he’s the one closest to my age,” Jack’s eyes fell a little, a wistful smile pulling halfheartedly at the corners of her mouth. “He’s never had too many close friends, but that’s all he’s ever wanted. He just wants to be liked by everyone. He’s the nicest person I know…”

The stirring stopped. She stared at the floor.

Sans put down his potato. “hey, c’mon, it’s alright. i’m...i’m sure you’ll see him again. heh. and in the meantime, you can share papyrus with me, if you want!” he winked. Jack laughed a little at that.

“Yeah...that sounds good,” she smiled at him and resumed her stirring. “You know what would go really good in this soup? A little bit of green chili.”

“i’ll bet you’re right, kiddo. too bad i don’t have any...or...know what that is!”

They both laughed. this kid wasn’t bad at all. Nothing like the history books made her out to be. Sans could feel the chains growing heavier as they laughed. He was going to have to tell her the truth eventually. But for now?

Eh, no reason to ruin a good moment, right?

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 4: Lord Slug

The fourth DBZ movie premiered on March 9, 1991 as part of the Toei Anime Fair.   The Japanese title was “Son Goku the Super Saiyan”, but when Funimation released it in the U.S., they named it after the villain, Lord Slug. 

Before we get into this, I want to talk a little about the chronology of this movie, because I find it fascinating.  This movie came out right after Episode 81 of the anime aired, and before Episode 82.   So a person in Japan in 1991 could watch Piccolo fight Second-Form Frieza, then go to the theater to watch Goku fight Lord Slug, then watch Frieza use his Third Form to turn the tables on Piccolo.

The point I’m making here is that the Super Saiyan form hadn’t even been properly introduced in the anime.   Goku hadn’t even gotten a chance to fight Frieza, let alone turn into a Super Saiyan for the first time.    That wouldn’t happen until Episode 95, which wouldn’t air until June.

However, the DBZ manga was further along in the story, so where was it at in March 1991?   According to Kanzenshuu.com, chapter 315 of the manga was published on March 5, 1991, in Weekly Shonen Jump.   That chapter features Goku working on the Spirit Bomb to defeat Frieza, while Piccolo tries to provide a diversion.   Goku wouldn’t transform into a Super Saiyan until chapter 317, which was published two weeks later, on March 19, 1991.  

In other words, this movie marks the first time Goku transforms into any kind of Super Saiyan.   The movie isn’t part of the main DBZ continuity, and the Super Saiyan form Goku uses doesn’t look quite right, but that’s what King Kai calls it, and that’s what the title of the movie calls it.  

So why did they do this?  My guess is that Toei had some inside knowledge on where Toriyama was headed with the story, and they figured a Super Saiyan transformation was on the horizon, so they went ahead and did their own take on it, which ended up resembling the genuine article reasonably well.    Up to this point, all anyone really knew about Super Saiyans came from Vegeta, who kept going on about how he and Goku were “becoming” Super Saiyans.    The implication here being that eventually one or both of them would finally reach that level.   

I feel like the Movie 4 Super Saiyan design was mostly based upon the Golden Oozaru seen in Episode 66.    At least, the yellow aura and highlights seem to have been inspired from this.

At any rate, I think the concept with this movie was to build on the idea of Goku finally achieving the Super Saiyan power and using it to wreck a bad guy’s shit.  It feels kind of cheap to give that sort of thing away when the Frieza Saga was still building up to it, but maybe it’s a smooth marketing ploy.    Fans would have been anxiously awaiting the big payoff in the manga and the TV series, and this movie would offer the merest taste of what awaited them once Goku tapped into that power.     In Movie 4, Goku only used a Super Saiyan form to beat up Lord Slug for a couple of minutes.    In the canon, Goku would use the Super Saiyan form to brutalize Frieza for a lot longer than that.   So really, this movie isn’t so much a spoiler as a sneak preview.   

So let’s get started.  Gohan finds Piccolo meditating, and shows off a trick he taught Icarus (aka Haiya Dragon).   When he whistles, Icarus dances.  Piccolo ignores this completely, which is kind of dumb, because Gohan is a friggin’ dancing machine in this sqeuence.    Icarus too, but I kind of hate Icarus.   He just looks like a refugee from some other cartoon.

As it turns out, Piccolo can’t tune out Gohan’s whistling because it’s on some sort of sonic frequency that causes him intense pain.     This will be important later.

Meanwhile, there’s a rogue planet headed on a collision course with the Earth.   Dr. Brief is checking it out with his telescope, and he’s found life signs on it.    So blowing it up may not be an option.

So Goku and Krillin head up to take care of things.    Not sure why they’re the only ones on deck for this.    Yamcha, Tien, and Chioatzu were all in the last movie, but maybe this time around, Toei is less certain that they’ll be returning for the rest of DBZ.  

The boys try to knock the planet off course with their hand energy, but somehow it doesn’t work and they end up getting swept aside by... something.

Then, uh.... I’m not sure what’s happening here, honestly.

And here’s the title card.  

In... West City?   Bulma was watching the planet’s trajectory with Gohan, Oolong, and Icarus, but then they got knocked down and buried in dirt when the planet came too close.

And I guess the other planet distintigrated?   

However, some sort of vehicle survived the other planet’s demise, and it’s landed near the city.  

A bunch of Stormtrooper knockoffs emerge, and inform the curious onlookers that the Earth has been claimed for Lord Slug, “king of all the universe.”

Inside the ship, an orange bad guy impatiently demands a timetable for “converting” the planet.   He points out that they have to hurry, because Lord Slug isn’t as young as he used to be, and Slug takes offense at this.

Slug kills him immediately, which is pretty wild.   This was the first DBZ animation I ever bought on home video.   Probably 2000 or 2001.   I used to see DBZ tapes for sale at stores, but they were all episodes that had already aired on TV.    This, however, was brand new, and it aroused my curiosity.   But this orange dude was featured prominently on the box art, and as it turns out, he didn’t even make it past his first scene.    He didn’t get to fight anybody; Slug took him out before he had a chance to get out of the ship.

He asks one of his crew how long the conversion will take, and then he zaps that guy when he doesn’t like the answer.    Finally, another crewman gives him a shorter estimate, and Slug seems satisfied with that.

Outside the public found the aliens’ declaration of conquest amusing, right until they opened fire on everybody.

Gohan fights back, smashing the visor of an alien’s space helmet, and he cries out in pain when he sees the sunlight. 

Inside, Slug is irritated at Gohan’s defiance, until he notices the Dragon Ball on his hat.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Chi-Chi jumping in to back Gohan up during this fight.    She takes out a couple goons, but she spends a little too much time basking in the spotlight, so a bad guy gets the drop on her.   

Then Slug comes out and grabs Gohan’s hat.  He seems to have a lot of trouble pulling the Dragon Ball off, considering how strong he’s supposed to be.

Then the main henchmen show up and explain to Bulma and Oolong that Slug plans to turn Earth into a planetary vehicle.    Bulma protests that this is impossible, but I’m pretty sure that’s what that other planet was before it broke up in the atmosphere.    Apparently all of that was intentional.   Slug only used that planet to bring him to Earth, then destroyed it because he planned to use Earth as a replacement.  

I’m not sure what the point of that is.   What makes Earth a better “vehicle” than the planet they were using before?   It’s prettier, but it won’t be once Slug’s done with it.

But Slug is more interested in the Dragon Ball, which stirs some dim memory.

Bulma somewhat stupidly points out that he can’t use the Dragon Balls without a Dragon Radar, so Slug uses some sort of telepathy to learn more from her.   

Then he hands her radar to one of his goons and gives him an hour to find the other six balls.

There’s one.

That guy had another.

I guess there’s one under this rock.

And here’s three more!     Wow, that was easy!

Slug uses his wish to have his youth restored, kind of like King Piccolo did.    Hmmm...

With that out of the way, he moves on to converting the Earth.   

I’m not sure what this entails.   Mostly, we see a machine in the upper atmosphere generating a thick blanket of smog over the whole world.    Then it gets really cold, I guess because the sunlight can’t get through.

Then the bad guys all remove their helmets and celebrate.   

Wait, Demon Clan?

According to the bad guys, they can’t last more than one hour in direct sunlight, and they seem to prefer the cold, so I think this was just the initial step to make Earth more comfortable for them while they move on with the conversion process. I’m a little confused by the idea that demons can’t stand warm weather or direct sunlight, since we never saw any of that affect King Piccolo’s Demon Clan, or Garlic Junior’s crew in Movie 1.   I guess Lucifer’s gang from Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle had an aversion to sunlight, but do they have anything to do with these guys?

So what happened to Goku and Krillin?   I’m not sure where they ended up, but Yajirobe finds them and gives them Senzu beans to get them back on their feet.

I don’t know how long they were out, but the whole city has been iced over in that time.

Back at Goku’s house, Chi-Chi is trying to take care of everyone in spite of the beatng she took from Slug’s goons.   In the dub, they had her sneeze to indicate that she was ill from the cold weather, but this makes more sene.   Otherwise, I like how cute and cozy this scene is.  

Unfortunately, Gohan snuck out of the house, and Chi-Chi suspects that he’s headed out to fight space crime again.

Then Bulma notices that Oolong is missing too.    Does Bulma think Oolong is her son?   I mean, it just seems kind of weird how she connects the two ideas.  

For now, Gohan’s just doing some recon on the bad guys.    I’m not sure why Oolong bothered to come along if all he was goning to do was complain, but he agrees to pipe down.

The bad guys spot Gohan and try to gang up on him, but then...

Piccolo time, baby!

The three main henchment show up to take care of this.   I guess I’d better get their names out of the way before I forget.    The one with bat wings is Dorodabo.    The dub calls him “Wings”, I guess?

The handsome guy in the back is Angila.  He has stretchy arm powers, but that’s about all we ever see.   The little green one is Medamacha.   Zeeun would have been here too, probably, except Slug killed him when they arrived.

Piccolo utterly demolishes “Wings”, to the point where he pleads for Piccolo to switch sides.   Apparently he recognizes Piccolo as a fellow Mazoku, implying that they really are related somehow.    Yeah, but Piccolo can stand direct sunlight, so how does that work?

But Piccolo blows him away, and that’s the end of that.    This right here is the main reason why this movie is better than “Tree of Might”.    At least in Movie 4, Piccolo gets a chance to shine and beat down a henchman in awesome fashion.   In Movie 3, he was just a punching bag for Turles, along with the rest of the Z-Fighters.

Gohan, on the other hand, doesn’t do as well.   Medmacha’s power is to spawn gross clones of himself, which leap onto a victim and drain their energy.

Why does one of them have to grab onto Gohan’s face like that?   Gross.

Piccolo tries to help, but Angila tunnels underground to grab his feet.

Still, Piccolo manages to save Gohan from their killing blow.

But before Medamacha can finish off Gohan, Goku and Krillin show up.    He offers to let them leave without a beating, as long as they take their cloud machine thingy and never come back.

The offer is declined.   Medamacha tries his attack on Goku this time, but Goku just muscles the clones off and kicked Medamacha’s ass.

Then Angila tries to hit Goku with a mouth beam, but Goku deflects it back on him, and I’m pretty sure that kills him.

The rest of the henchmen all retreat to the ship, but Slug kills them all for their cowardice.   

Krillin offers to handle Slug for Goku, but it doesn’t go well...

For what it’s worth, things don’t go much better for Goku either.   Slug knocks him around town for a while, and Goku can barely keep up.

What I really love about this movie is how colorful everything is.    This is a story about the world being covered in literal darkness, but they still made it easy to see what’s going on and fun to watch.   I’ve watched Movie 4 maybe six or seven times, and I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorite DBZ films, but it’s definitely a good one.    And it’s leaps and bounds above Avengers: Endgame, which featured maybe a hundred superhero characters, and in the final battle they’re all just inky figures battling vaguely on a sepia background.     They should have asked Thanos to meet them on Iguana Street.

Desperate, Goku resorts to his trump card, the Spirit Bomb, but it’s no use.

As King Kai explains, the Earth just doesn’t have any energy left to offer for the Spirit Bomb, kind of like what happened in “Tree of Might”, only this time Goku can’t just siphon power from the Tree of Might.

So where did all that energy go, exactly?   I mean, Slug just made it dark and cold, and it’s only been what, a few hours?   Days, at most?   Are we saying there’s no genki left anywhere for Goku to make a Genki Dama with?

So Goku’s out of options and at the end of his rope.    Slug goes in for the kill when...

Yeah, bringing you another disturbing creation From the mind of one sick animal who can't tell the difference And gets stupefied.

BITCH.

YOU.

THOUGHT?

RRRRRGGGHHHHH!

This right here?   Fuckin’ awesome!    Lord Slug is a first-class jerk, and Goku broke his hand so hard that his hand has Super Saiyan aura all over it.   Cool!    This should have happened to more villains who fought Super Saiyans.    What does it mean when this happens?   Does it hurt?   Who cares?   It looks amazing.

Goku follows this up with a punch to the face, and it leaves more Super Saiyan aura on Slug’s cheek.    Bad ass!

King Kai watches all this from his planet and he’s all “What in the wide world of sports is a-goin’ on here?”   Then he recalls the legend, and wonders if Goku has somehow become the legendary Super Saiyan.

Annnnd that’s why this movie doesn’t fit into canon.     In the manga, King Kai watches Goku turn Super Saiyan on Namek while he fights Frieza.    He was surprised in that scene too, which means Movie 4 can’t have taken place before all of that, or King Kai would already know about it.  And Movie 4 can’t take place after Frieza, because King Kai would see Goku beating down Slug and say “Oh, wow, he’s doing that thing he did with Frieza that time.”

I AM CHAMPION CHRISTMAS

Mmmph!   Goku dropping some hurtin’ bombs on Slug.    This whole sequence is a little too short, but now that I’m re-living it through screencaps, I gotta say it really hits the spot.    This shot is just beautiful, but you can’t get a chance to savor it when you watch the movie.

I’m not sure why Goku just stopped in the middle of all of this.    It’s unclear if he’s got any sense of reason while he’s in this state.    Regardless, Slug decides to get serious in order to deal with this development.

Since Goku wrecked his left arm, he just rips it off and grows a new one...

... because Slug is actually a Namekian.   Dunh-dun-DAAAAAAH.

So were all the henchmen his mutant offspring, like King Piccolo’s “Demon Clan”?   If so, why were they vulnerable to warm climate and sunlight?   

Then he grows huge, while King Kai fills Goku in on who this guy is.    Like Kami, Slug was sent to another planet during Namek’s extinction event, but where Kami was sent to Earth, baby Slug was sent to Planet... uh, Slugg.    Okay.   

Also, he’s a mutant Namekian, which caused him to be pure evil throughout his entire life.   And he’s a Super Namekian.   I’m not sure if King Kai meant to connect those three ideas together or not.    My takeaway from this is that Slug was intended to resemble an evil twist on Kami.   Where Kami was corrupted by evil and split into two beings to purify himself, Slug was just evil through and through, and never had any interest in splitting himself, so he’s as strong as Kami/Piccolo would have been if they hadn’t split.   

And that’s sort of the tie-in to what’s been going on in the anime around this time.   In Episode #81, we see Piccolo fuse with Nail and seemingly hold his own against Frieza.   And Nail told Piccolo that he would have been even stronger if he had fused with Kami instead.   So I think this movie was born of the idea of taking that idea and making it a new bad guy for Goku to fight.  

Of course, Goku’s a Super Saiyan, and that’s supposed to be even better, right?   Well, maybe, except he somehow lost that power boost when Slug unmasked.    I’m not sure if the shock of seeing Slug rip off his own arm made Goku lose focus, or maybe that Super Saiyan form was only temporary.   Either way, he’s no match for Slug now.

But then Piccolo shows up and grabs Slug’s antennae.   Slug angrily grabs at him instead...

But that just plays into Piccolo’s plans.    Next, Piccolo rips off his on ears....

... then he calls out to Gohan to whistle that song he was doing at the start of the movie.   It drove Piccolo nuts, and his gamble is that it’ll hurt Slug even worse, on account of him having bigger ears.

And it works!   Slug realizes what’s going on, but too late.  Well, not exactly too late, right?  He could rip off his own ears, couldn’t he?

Then Piccolo drags himself over to Goku and donates the last of his energy to him to revive him.   

Goku wakes up and expresses his gratitude for Piccolo’s noble efforts.   I guess this marks the first time Goku and Piccolo are depicted as unambiguous friends?

Meanwhile, Slug tries to blast whatever’s making all the noise, but he misses and takes out his own ship instead.   Whoops.

Then Goku uses the Kaio-Ken, which is boosted by Piccolo’s ki.   As Gok charges, Slug sees giant images of Goku and Piccolo flickering back and forth.  

And Goku tears a hole through Slug.   So I guess all of that was more powerful than a Super Saiyan?  

Goku figures it’s time for him to tackle that machine that’s messing up the weather, but then Slug grabs him as he tries to fly into the sky.

But Goku shakes him off and climbs up above the cloud deck, where he can use the sun’s energy to make...

...a Spirit Bomb!  

Goku blasts Slug right into his own smog machine, destroying both of them and returning the world to normal.    

And so Goku takes a moment to enjoy all the nature he just saved.    Good hustle, Son.

Yajirobe shows up and says he was nearby in case anyone needed more senzu beans....

But Krillin says he’s been hiding this whole time.

Then a Namekian hand grabs Yajirobe, and everyone thinks it’s Slug.

... But it’s just Piccolo asking for a bean.   This is literally what they did at the end of every Scooby-Doo. 

I was about to say this is the first time Piccolo’s eaten a senzu, but I forgot about the one Goku fed him at the 23rd Budokai. 

So everything’s wrapped up nice and neat, except for Piccolo’s missing ears, but he can just regenerate those, so it’s all good.

Oh, and Master Roshi slept through the whole thing.     You’d think he would have gotten cold when the smog machine was running, but oh well.

After that, we get this pretty cool montage of the characters while the end credits roll, so I’ll just leave you with that.   

I’m not sure what this last one is, but I like Goku and Gohan posing like dorks.   Piccolo looks like he’s embarassed to be seen with them...

And that’s Movie 4.    It’s a pretty good movie!   Goku uses Super Saiyan power and borrowed power from Piccolo and a Spirit Bomb to kick the bad guy’s ass, and Piccolo and Gohan get to do some stuff.    You even get to see Chi-Chi mix it up a little, and how often do we get to see that?