#Be honest guys....is it obvious my favorite color is purple.......?

[explodingstarlight]

i was encouraged to give into the demons *makes sonic oc*

ofc i made a playlist for her, who do you think i am?

Athena is generally quiet and calm with something of a morbid sense of humor. They tend to keep to themselves, but can be found occasionally helping out Rouge with her heists when there's a chance to find a rare tome ("if they didn't want me to steal it, then they should have made it publicly available" 💅✨️). Being a bat-eared fox, she has excellent hearing and in combination with her shadow abilities she excels at stealth.

They're interested in researching the origin of the chaos emeralds and chaos energy in the known universe, which occasionally puts her at odds with Knuckles as she often pesters him about borrowing the Master Emerald for study. She gets along well with Tails and Amy, but Sonic's energy tends to be a bit much (though they do find him funny). While Athena and Shadow do have mutual respect for one another, she finds his endless spats with Sonic hilarious and quietly conspires to get the duo to hang out more.

One of the few times she drops her calm demeanor is when they let loose entirely using their chaos ability, like below:

Also- thanks for the votes helping me choose her name! It was between Athena and Topaz, but the votes skewed towards Athena so that's what I went with 🫡

[march-harrigan]

Arkham Dork Squad: 5, 6, 18! And for another one: 13, 20, 21 for your lovely lil haresona u-u

OKAY, SO! I answered 5 and 18 for Jervis here! The rest, I'll put under a cut.

Jervis

6- Favourite thing this character has said? - This is a tough one, because I love just about everything that comes out of this man's mouth and it also really depends on the version! From his entire monologue in his Joker's Asylum story and his breakdown in BTAS(Perchance to Dream). Or sillier things like his rhyming argument with cash in Arkham Knight or... Just about anything in Secret Six.

One that did stick out to me though, in terms of characterization and how I generally perceive his motives was in Arkham Origins. When he's testing the mind control devices on his "rabbits."

"That's always been the trouble, though, hasn't it? No one ever wanted to hear what Jervis had to say. He might as well have been invisible."

THIS is exactly what I mean when I say he feels overlooked. Jervis has a need to feel seen. To be important and valued enough to be heard. And that's exactly where at least some of his issues with control begin.

Jonathan

5- What do you not like about this character? - I'm gonna be honest. The major thing I dislike isn't even that deep. I just think he should be depicted as Southern more often. That we should have a selection of official, Southern-accented voices to pick from.

Don't get me wrong, I love the depictions of Jon that we have. But ever since I learned about Year One Scarecrow, I need that Georgia boy!

-

6- Favourite thing this character has said? - You know that part in Arkham Knight where you go back to the clock tower and you have to take out a bunch of militia guys and Scarecrow's waxing poetic about fear? Describing the effects it has on the body, how ancient it is, the kind of primal fear our ancestors felt?

Yeah, all of that.

-

18- What’s something you associate this character with? E.g. a certain colour, object or scenery? - I associate him with autumn colors. Orange, brown, and red mostly. Obviously, there's just the entire concept of fear. He's usually on my mind when I get the urge to binge some horror content.

Halloween is another big association. Whether he loves it because it suits his motif or hates it because of related trauma, I feel like every version of Jonathan Crane has some strong feelings about Halloween, one way or the other.

Eddie

5- What do you not like about this character? - I don't really have a lot of negative to say about Ed. At least as a whole.

I guess if I were to gripe about a specific version, it would be Gotham. I liked him well enough? But his transition from Ed Nygma to the Riddler was just. Not great in general. I feel like someone who's watched the series more than once could explain it better than I can. It was all very weird, and not in a good way.

-

6- Favourite thing this character has said? - Honestly, everything out of Arkham!Riddler's mouth is pure gold. He's quickly become my favorite just for the shit he says and Wally Wingert's flawless delivery of that shit! The most memorable though would probably be the classic:

“You solved it? Ah, but this is merely check, detective. Soon I will be mating you. Wait, I meant chess! Chess, you base, gutter-minded savage!”

-

18- What’s something you associate this character with? E.g. a certain colour, object or scenery? - The obvious color is green(and to a lesser extent, purple). I associate the Riddler with games and puzzles of all kinds. Just going by the things on my desk there's crosswords and Rubik's cubes and... Yeah, even dice, although he's more about skill than chance.

Portal comes to mind too. I feel like he'd enjoy the games(and making his own test chambers).

March

13- Contrary wise if it is an OC, what’s your favourite story with them in it you’ve written? - I am... Honestly so bad about actually writing the content for my self-inserts and OCs. Any plotlines that happen are either in my head or RP if I'm lucky.

I guess one of my favorite ideas I have for them(on how they meet Jervis) is the one where Jervis has recently broken out of Arkham. He returns to his old hideout to grab a few things only to discover that someone's broken in.

He finds them at the table. Full costume, feet propped up and sipping tea. They claim to be the March Hare and he just kind of... Accepts/goes along with it? All is forgiven because, after all, "what's a little breaking and entering between friends?"

However, what Jervis will not tolerate, is their FEET on the TABLE!

Shortly after this, he helps them improve their costume, including a set of ears with a neural link that enables them to control the ears via thought and emotion.

-

20- Contrary wise, if this character is an OC, how does their presence change the story? - Call me Mary Sue, but the biggest change is just. To Jervis. The friendship(and eventual romance) helps stabilize him to a certain degree. Though, at the same time, March is a huge enabler for some of his crimes. A simultaneous "I can fix him" and "I can make him worse."

-

21- Wild card! Talk about anything to do with this character! Anything at all! - Gonna do a Jervis-related one and one that's not related to Jervis because like. This sona is for self ship, but I also wanna develop them as their own character beyond "haha date Jervis."

Depending on version(AKA if it's one of the takes where Jervis does the rhyming thing), March will rhyme along with him. In fact, it's not uncommon for the two of them to have conversations entirely in verse where they complete each other's rhymes. They are both VERY good at improv this way.

March likes to collect weapons and has quite the assortment. Various swords and knives, a medieval mace. Some throwing knives in the shape of playing cards if they feel like being a bit more On Brand. They have a few guns, but those aren't really favorites. It's more that they can acknowledge them as more efficient in certain situations.

There is, however, a tommy gun they've gotten attached to. They favor it during heists.

Bonus: Their favorite tea is Earl Grey, but they're also big on breakfast teas.

[ryozoro]

Hades Playlist - i.

NOW PLAYING : I n t e r l u d e [J. Cole]

cw; name calling, blood, mentions of murder, major spoilers

“Fate is a very weighty word to throw around before breakfast.”

Despite the red-light district thriving through the night, it looked just as beautiful during the early morning. Yn was roaming the streets on her pedal bike for the first time since winter break as she plotted different ways to surprise her big brother at his newly opened bike shop. She had already purchased his favorite breakfast meal from the little café she worked at, and all that she was left to do was see the said man. Getting out of thoughts and returning to reality, she stopped at the side of the traffic light to press the ‘crossing’ button and to text Draken to make sure he was at work before she made the trip.

“hey there pretty girl, ya wanna come ride something more interesting than the little kiddie bike yer on right now?” some bleach blonde junior high kid called out to her, smirking as he man spread and took up most of the space on the park bench. “I know ya hear me pretty girl,” he leaned and rested his elbows onto his knees, “maybe ya want me to come over and beg for yer attention, huh? Want me to come and make ya listen to me?”

She scoffed and waited for the light to signal for her to cross, but its as if the gods wanted to punish her and traffic kept flowing out of her favor. Getting restless, she pocketed her phone and tapped on her bar handles in hopes of the cars to all be generous and let her through; of course, this did not happen and the young fuck boy in training had began to approach her alongside his friend who were hyping him up and recording the event.

“You might be older than me,” he walked up behind her and kicked her bike tire before circling around and leaning against the basket in the front, “but that doesn’t change the fact that I hit girls.” Yn had to refrain from spitting in his face because Draken always said ‘never start anything with others first, let them choose their fate.’ In other words, big bro just didn’t want her to put herself at risk due to minor inconveniences that were presented towards her.

Just as the light switched from a hand to a walking figure, yn politely smiled at the boy in hopes of him getting the hint that she did not wish to engage with him anymore, but – of course – that was just asking too much of him. He turned back and looked at the sign noticing it was their turn to cross, and he surprisingly moved out the way. Yn smiled realizing that her brother did know it best when he said that the ‘dumb young boys will leave you alone after they realize you’re not going to give them the time of day,’ and she moved to pedal across the cross walk with a large smile.

However, big bro’s words are not the golden rule amongst men and the boys did not leave her alone; in fact, they decided to run at her hit the back tire with a bat and caused her to lose control and fall in the middle of the walkway. The drivers were kind enough to wait for her to get up and cross the street with scraped knees and a dirty pull over. She turned back to glare at the boys, but their backs were already facing her as they leisurely walked away laughing. This wasn’t going to ruin her day, after all, she still gets to surprise her brother with her presence and might even have the chance to see his hot amazing friends whom you grew up around. After realizing that the former gang members might all be hanging around her brother’s workplace, she got up with a huge smile and skipped the rest of her way on the crosswalk. Once to the other side, yn hopped back on her bike without checking her bloodied shins and made her way on the quickest route to the shop.

Glancing up at the familiar billboards that danced in sky and looking down at the alleys being populated with street cats and new gen delinquents, she realized she was only a block down from seeing the man who has always put her first and raised her to strive to her fullest potential. Smiling as closed her eyes for just a second - she swears it – to bask in the excitement and next thing she knew, she was on the ground covered in coffee. She could hear faint voices but those were cancelled out by her skin screaming at her to get up and quickly remove any rubble and dirt that had entered. Moving to get up, she took note of blood staining the concrete and became slightly alarmed.

“Oi, you dumb bitch, you should watch where you’re going,” a man’s voice echoed through her head, “you got a drip of blood on my Milano’s.” Trying to get up, yn went to wipe her eyes, but as soon as she lifted her hands, she felt them share the similar sting that her knees and chin felt. “You deaf or something? Ha, lucky for you I’ll take the food in your basket and whatever is in your wallet as an exchange. Pin code for your card must be included, love.” Hearing as she was about to get stripped dry of her hard-earned cash, she shot a glare up at the well-dressed man’s body just to be sent in a more state of terror when she noticed the tattoo that decorated his temple; it was the infamous Bonten symbol.

“I say we just take her to the back alley and make her pretty throat match the rest of her bloody body,” she turned and seen a pinkette with long hair and two scars that sat on each corner of his ?beautiful? mouth. to be completely honest, he would have been very much at the top of her most attractive list if he weren’t just plotting to slice her neck right in front of her; she wondered if he ever heard of the Element of Surprise. “She hasn’t even apologized yet and it’s been at least 45 seconds, that is pretty rude don’t you think, Mochi-kun?”

“It is very rude,” the built man with slicked back blonde hair spoke up, “do you want me to take her in the alleyway?” He squatted down to meet yn at eye level and she didn’t know if it was the fact he was able to stare into her soul with lifeless eyes or the extremely structured shoulders that could break her bones if he had tackled her, but she genuinely felt that she was going to die. “You seem like a worthless kill if I am being honest, and I don’t like claiming meaningless prizes. So, if you want to live,” ‘Mochi-kun’ reached over and gripped her bloodied chin, “or are you going to be good dog and run your pockets?”

She couldn’t believe it; for all her life, death threats have never been directly shot at her as Draken and the others have always been there. Of course, she emptied her pockets as quick as she could and began wiping the man’s Milano’s with her cloth lens wipe.

“Good girl,” the man with the temple tattoo said mockingly, “but I’m gonna need you to put your pretty mouth to work since you don’t know – or rather – you act like you don’t know how to speak.” She felt her eyes began to fill with tears as she looked up from the ground; they mistook it for fear, but yn was just angry she was powerless to them. “Don’t worry, I like older women, so I won’t need your mouth for that,” he laughed loudly in her face, “lick the blood off.” Her glare returned and tears began to spill over her cheeks. “Be a good bitch, and lick my –“

“What are you idiots doing?” a man with a long pink and purple mullet-like hairstyle came from behind her. “Are you guys bullying young kids again? Oh, wait, you’re not a kid.” He stared at you through his multi-colored bangs and tilted his head, “Why are you all bloody like a sewer rat walking through the back alley of feral cats?” he pushed the girl’s forehead back, straining her neck to hold eye contact with him, “you’re not some whore, are you?” He craned his neck back to the man who has been treating her like a dog, giving yn a full view of his Bonten symbol tattooed across the middle of his pretty throat. “Neh, Koko, you do realize that if you want a girl’s attention you can’t just rough her up in hopes that she takes you to bed.” He turns back to yn before sighing, “You’re cute,” for some reason she felt herself swelling with pride, “but you’re not my type,” – well there goes her ego.

“Oh what-fucking-ever,” ‘Koko’ mumbled as he gently pushed her away, “I didn’t want some inexperienced princess anyway, so don’t get your hopes up.” He quickly bent down and took all the cash from her wallet and began to slide out the card, but a baton quickly swatted at his hands.

“Your obsession with money is crazy, but you can’t take hers if you still owe me 45,000 yen.” Yn turned to see a man with pushed back purple and pink hair holding the offending stick. Unlike the other members, his tattoo was in the same place as the mullet man – maybe they took over the organization after her other big brotherly figure, Mikey, left. She drank in his appearance, and although he was thinner than the other members, something about him just screamed ‘stay away;’ but for the first time in her life, yn didn’t want to listen to such obvious red flags. “Oh no, you’re bloodied up like a rat –“

“I have already said that nii-chan,” the mullet head said, “what do you say? Wanna jut get rid of her like Sanzu-san suggested?” The now known younger brother asks. She began to tremble but not out of fear, no, out of a weird feeling at the pits of her stomach that came about as soon as the stranger stumbled onto the scene. “Oi,” the younger brother flicked your chin, reminding your body that it is supposed to be in a state of stinging pain, “staring is rude. What are you – a deer in headlights?”

“Now, now, Ridou,” the man continued to meet yn’s gaze as he motioned for her to take his hand, “where’s the fun in hurting a good little lamb? Especially one who shows that she knows to yield to her Sheppard.” Against her better judgement, yn took his hand and allowed him to help her up. “Look at you go,” he smirked and scanned over her body through hooded lids, “such a strong little girl you are standing on wobbly legs after the big bad wolves tried to tear you down.”

She should feel offended, mocked, and appalled, but she couldn’t – not with the voids he called eyes staring at her. “T-thanks,” she weakly mumbled as she began to gather her bag back together and prop her bike back up, “I know you guys said you needed the pin number, but I can’t give it to you.” She hung her head and balled her fists; she was waiting for someone to hit her but that never came. Looking up she sees the ‘older brother’ standing in front of the brooding ‘Koko’ and the other members just staring around the streets.

“That’s fine, little one,” the older brother said, “we don’t need your card. Koko here will be fine with just the cash. But I will need payment of the sort since I did calm the bully over here, don’t you think?” He smiled at yn, quickly scanning her student ID and then turning back to her face, “You’re 18, yeah?” she nodded, and he smiled lazily, “Good, give me something of yours that is valuable. I want to talk to you again and if I take it, you are going to want to take it back, correct?”

“I – um,” she began to go through the bag and seen that the only things she deemed valuable were her phone and the spare keys to her room in the brothel, “all I have is my k-keys and phone.” She huffed out in hopes that he took mercy and just let her go already; if she kept in his presence any longer, she feared that every piece of knowledge on common sense would fly out of her brain.

“Well, no one wants a pedal bike here and your phone and keys wouldn’t be of use to me,” he spoke in a rather degrading tone, “how about, you give me that pretty little necklace that you’re wearing… hmm, ... oh! Give me your number as well. After all, how are you going to know when I want you to take back your precious gems without being able to plan a proper date?” His smile was too secretive to be comforting, but this was probably the best way to saving her own life.

“Okay,” she replied quickly, “just please, don’t break the necklace…” her hands shook as she unclasped it and placed it into the man’s hands. “That’s a gift from my brother, so I promise you I’ll come and get it whenever you ask.” Yn put her hands on her bar handles before straddling the bike.

“Thank you,” he smiled and put away the baton before fishing out his phone, “put your number in it and call to make sure you’re not fucking with me, yeah?” He tilted his head and softly hummed at the soft sound of her phone vibrating in her bag. “Thank you, yn-chan.”

“No, thank you,” she lightly coughed and waited for him to look back up at her after saving all her contact information. Once he finally looked up, she flinched but proceeded to stare him dead in his lovely irises, “May I have your name… if ya don’t mind that it.”

“Haitani Ran,” the older man laughed and shifted his weight onto his hip, “and I expect you to text me whenever you get the chance.” He turned around and the other members began to follow. For what felt like an eternity, yn finally let out a small breath, well at least until he had turned back around. “Oh!” Haitani-san smiled at her, “Leave it under ‘Ran-senpai’ so your brother and friends don’t get spooked. Don’t want the fun to end before it has barely even started.” With that, he turned back around and waved half-assed before disappearing into the distance.

Yn decided to just to walk the rest of the block because riding the bike has been nothing but bad luck so far. Once at the shop, she sighed and made her way to the back where she knew would be unlocked because no one dared walk up into her big brother’s place of work. Parking her bike, she quickly takes her phone back out with 3 texts from an unknown number.

Unknown: hey little lamb, its yer senpai <3

Unknown: yer probs with yer bro so ill call you later, mm around midnight so stay up

Unknown: text me back soon or I mite accidentally break your pretty necklace and youll have to  owe me a big favor for ignoring me :)

“what the actual fuck,” yn whispered as she quickly began typing away. She didn’t know if she be upset with his back-to-back messages treating her like she was his property, or mad at herself for feeling this little need inside of her that wants to please him. Yes, all of the gang members were extremely hot and DANGEROUS, but something about ‘Ran Senpai’ gave her the cold chills; what made it worse was the urge that she possessed to go against all her morals for him.

Yn: hi! Im sorry,, I was just trying to get to my brother’s shop

Yn: wait,, do you know draken-nii?

She tilted her head and rocked lightly from side to side, waiting for a reply instead of going in and surprising her brother like she initially had planned to do. While she waited, she changed his name to ‘Tani Senpai <3’ with a small smile as she imagined Draken freaking out over the fact that a boy has caught her interest. Of course, she wasn’t romantically interested in the man, but his face isn’t one that she would mind seeing from time to time – at a safe distance that is.

Tani Senpai <3: mhm, some good and bad history

Yn: oh?

Tani Senpai <3: you do know curiosity killed the cat, right little lamb?

Yn: you flirt a lot

Yn: how old are you ?

Tani Senpai <3: 28 years young bb

Yn: youre ten whole years older than me?? You look so,, young.

Tani Senpai <3: I have aged, but trust me, I am rather youthful in different aspects.

Yn: do you by chance,, like memes?

Tani Senpai <3: ofc, especially hornee ones.

Yn: haha.. well I gotta go,

Tani Senpai <3: mhm go ahead baby, remember. Midnight <3

 Yn: aye aye captain.

She felt another vibration as she placed her phone in her backpack, but she was finally able to see and surprise her brother and that is exactly what she planned to do. Quietly pulling the door open, she noted that the music blaring and Draken’s back was to her as he was fixing up what looked like Pah-chin’s old CBX 400F. It was a cute sight if she was being completely honest; her brother rebuilding his old friendships. She seen the other boys’ bikes lined up too: Draken’s Zephyr, Mitsuya’s little Impulse, Kazu-kun’s Rocket, Mikey’s CB250T, and even the late Baji’s Goki.

“Pah-san still has the old thing,” she decided to speak up instead of tackling her brother, “are you guys gonna give it to some younger kids?” right as she finished her sentence, draken whipped his head back and went to cradle yn to his chest. Suddenly, all of the stinging on her skin had vanished and she was giggling while circling her arms around her brother’s waist. “How are you ya wannabe greaser?”

“I’m doing fine you idiot, how are -,” draken lifted his head to get a good look at her, but all his excitement drained as he was met with a sight of dried blood and scraped skin. “Who the fuck did this to you? I’ll kill them right fucking now, what the hell happened yn?”

“DRAKEN,” he stopped and stared at you expecting an answer, “I tired riding my bike down the big hill by the park and this happened, okay? I’m okay.” She stared at him with a soft expression and relaxed once she noticed he slumped in his posture, “I know you said to stop riding down the hill because it’ll bite me in the ass one day, so I guess today was the day.” Yn laughed and draken tried to fight the small smile that was threatening to fall on his lips.

“Go sit on the counter and watch the store for a bit, I’m gonna get the first aid kit in the back and I guess I’ll patch ya up.” With that, he disappeared into the office hall and left yn to be lost in thought. She had never lied to Draken this heavy before. It might not seem like a big deal to others, but she just told her brother she fell down a hill instead of saying that some /Bonten/ men were just threatening her life 20 minutes ago and they treated her like a dog; well, she didn’t feel that bad anymore, considering that he would have gone and wasted his life against men that played dirty. “Get out of your head, I’m back.” Draken teased her before getting an alcohol wipe and wiping the dried blood, “don’t squirm too much, loser. iss’ gonna sting a bit tho, so try to not hit me.”

It went a lot more smooth than she had expected, yeah, the cleansing wipe and ointment burned, but now she was bandaged and able to not worry about even more blood staining her clothes til they go to the brothel.

“Here,” he handed her a spare shirt and some sweats, “I don’t like seeing you all beat up, makes me want to fight the side walk. You know where the bathroom is.” Draken slightly punched her shoulder before heading back to seat near the bike, “once you’re done, we can go meet the boys for breakfast. I bet yer hungry.”

“Yer the best, ya know that,” yn smiled before taking her bag and clothes to the bathroom. “It won’t be long,” she turned before entering the hall, “make sure the cute one is there!”

“Stop trying to fuck my friends,” Draken called out in an irritated tone as she walked away laughing. It was an ongoing joke yn had played on her brother, where she would pretend to have some crush on his friends and it’d just make him twenty times more protective around them; he never knew if she was serious or not so he had to be cautious.

Once in the bathroom, yn quickly changed into the clothes her brother had lent her and stared at herself in the mirror. She laughed when she realized she kind of looked like one of the main characters from her favorite psychological thrillers. Yn took out her phone and decided to message Mana, mitsuya’s younger sister and yn’s best friend from home, with a picture of her bandaged state and the caption, ‘take out my ankles next time, daddy <3.’ It honestly surprised her to get a reply that fast as Mana was always one to sleep until noon. She didn’t know what scared her more, the fact she sent it the wrong person, or the fact the person knew exactly what she was talking about.

Tani Senpai <3: you look hot like that

Tani Senpai <3: like being called daddy, but in this context arent I supposed to call you mommy or something LMAO

Tani Senpai <3: I can break your ankles with my baton

Tani Senpai <3: make you my little housewife and call you ‘Bum.’

Tani Senpai <3: don’t worry, I won’t turn into ashes ;) <3

“Yn,” Draken called out, “you okay in there?”

“Don’t worry about it nii-Chan,” she giggled in hopes of masking her terror, “just bumped into a wound. I’ll be out soon.”

“Okay,” draken slipped a pad and a tampon under the door, “don’t know if you might want these -,”

“LEAVE YOU IDIOT,” yn genuinely laughed and heard draken’s heavy chuckles through the door, “thank you though, I’ll be out soon.”

“I’ll be outside on the bike, bubs.”

After hearing draken’s foot steps vanish, she quickly began typing.

Yn: that wasn’t meant for you -

Tani Senpai <3: shame, I love killing stalking

Yn: wait,, really? 👀

Tani Senpai <3: mhm,, we’ll talk about it later tonite ‘bum ;)

Yn: .. deal :)

Despite every shitty thing that has happened to her since she got back, it felt as if they were supposed to meet; fate as one would call it. She was offering herself to one of the most dangerous men who rule the underworld, and she didn’t even find herself to minding.

masterlist | next

an: hi hello, hope yer all eating well :)

ryozoro©

[specsforwoo]

A "Fake" Love Story | Mafia!Doyoung

This series is a collaboration between myself (@marshmellowmin) and the author @specsforwoo. Please continue to support us as we release more related content and continue our stories. Thank you!

Doyoung: Politician. Ended up in congress when the last President was impeached, makes sure the laws work in favor of S-NCT. Was a trade dealer before becoming a politician. Is popular amongst the common population of Korea.

Years in Mafia: 10

Weapon of Choice: Billet 4x4 Snatch Rope

Body count: 3

___

*Ding*

“Thank you for coming to Cherry Blossom Co! How can I help you today?” You popped your head up from the rose bush you were plucking at the moment to look towards the door of your little flower shop. By the daisies and petunias stood a man in his early to mid twenties, shifting his eyes between the flowers before landing on your own figure.

“ Ah, I was wondering if I could get a bouquet made by tonight? Every other shop in the area is backed up with orders.” He gave a small smile before pulling his wallet out of his suit pocket “I can pay extra if it helps.”

Walking from around the massive flower pot, you wiped the dirt off of your gloves before taking them off and shoving them into the apron tied around your waist. “Don’t worry about paying extra, I can make it for you right now!” Walking over to the workbench you pulled out a basic brown wrapping paper, folding it and laying it flat down on the table. “What is the occasion? A date maybe?” You looked up to the stranger, who had moved from the daisies over to the lilies, running his fingers gently along the petals. He probably had no problem securing a date, if he wasn’t married already. Tall, handsome and a soothing voice with a calm face.

“Uh… not exactly” He set out a whispered laugh, scratching the back of his head, “ I have to meet the daughter of one of my associates tonight, I figured I should come prepared.” So he wasn’t married, nice.

“Well, do you have any idea what type of flowers you want? Big or small bouquet? And do you want a message written with it?” You pulled twine and cardstock along with lettering pens from under the counter.

“I know absolutely nothing about flowers, a decent sized bouquet and no message please, I wouldn’t know what to write,” He laughed again, this time bringing his hand to pull at his cuff sleeves. You chuckled at the man’s cluelessness, putting away the pens and cardstock. Even though he looked like a super smooth and suave guy, it was obvious he was oblivious to the world of romantics.

“Well, what kind of a meeting is it? Professional, casual, or maybe even romantic?” You asked, walking around the hydrangeas and closer to the wildflowers before finally reaching the most popular flower, the red roses.

“What kind of flowers are your favorites?” He asked, following you around your small shop, eyeing every type of flower. Surprised by the question, you paused in front of the chrysanthemums.

“I like them all, if I’m being honest. But a bouquet of different types of wildflowers and lavender are my personal favorites. I always have some on display in my living room. Do you have a favorite flower?” You figured making small talk would help hurry his decision along-and maybe come back to your shop again.

“I like that one flower, it grows a lot in America, it uhhh, it almost looks like a daisy but it’s petals are blue and purple and pink” He gave another nervous laugh, whipping out his phone this time before clicking around and unceremoniously shoving the phone into your own hands. A picture of a field, in what you assumed to be America, was on the screen, with beautiful flowers all across it.

“Those look like New England Asters!” You grinned widely, laughing. Moving back over to the wildflowers, you picked up a handful of the colorful flowers, showing them to him proudly. “I even have them in stock!”

“Wow, I didn’t know you could find them in Korea.” He followed you back through the store as you pulled different flowers from bushes and buckets before you made it back to the workbench. You continued to make small talk as you made the bouquet, finishing it much quicker than you expected.

“Here it is!” You held it up with pride, handing it over to him, which he gently took from you, a smile appearing.

“Thank you so much, here, how much do I owe you?” He went to pull out his wallet again, before you raised a hand in an attempt to stop him.

“Don’t worry about it. I had fun talking to you and I love making bouquets for people who enjoy the work behind it, so consider it on the house. Anything else you need?”

“Um, I know this is gonna sound really weird, but will you come to this meeting with me? As a um, uh, a date?”

“I’m sorry?” You choked, halting all movements to put together the bouquet.

“Well, uhm I was supposed to court the daughter of the associate I’m meeting with tonight, which is why I needed the bouquet, but she’s like 16, and on top of her being way too young, she’s a total brat who’s never been told ‘no’ in her life. So you can see why I want to avoid courting her as much as possible,” the man awkwardly laughed and rubbed the nape of his neck, looking anywhere else but at you. You were shocked by his story, not quite believing that a man would actually marry off his 16 year old daughter to a man who appeared to be in his early twenties. You couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man’s position, and also happy he wasn’t a creepy pedophile.

“I’ll go with you, but on one condition. Tell me your name.” You smiled, tending to your bouquet once again. The man smiled brightly at your answer and chuckled a bit when he realized he had never told you his name.

“It’s Kim Doyoung. Nice to meet you,” Doyoung looked at the embroidered name on your apron right below your left collarbone, “Y/N. Should I pick you up here around 6?”

“Alright. I will see you at 6 Mr. Kim Doyoung. Doyoung nodded and the two of you spent the next few minutes asking questions about each other and how the meeting tonight would go down. As it turns out, the associate he was meeting tonight was West African and had connections all over the world, and Doyoung was trying to work with him to get some of the connections. He never mentioned what the connections were for though, which you found odd. Most men love to brag about their work experiences, while Doyoung tended to tell little pieces of his experiences. Eventually the bouquet was finished and Doyoung had to leave, something you both regretted-though the thought of seeing him again tonight kept you on your toes with excitement bubbling in your stomach.

The rest of your day was just as mundane as you had expected. Nothing more than a husband with an upset wife at home, a young man on his first date, and a girl - looking for flowers to press - came into the shop. Still, your thoughts were filled with the image of a tall and lanky brunette that was supposed to be here any minute.

5:59, you heard the chime of the front door opening, and walked in the same man from hours earlier. “Are you ready?” He asked, moving to the edge of the counter that you were behind, holding out his hand. “I promise that I will make it as adventurous as possible.” He gave out a chuckle as you timidly took the hand that he had offered.

“I can’t wait to see what a high life you live Mr. Kim.” You joked, as he led you out to his car, waiting for you to lock the door to the shop.

Driving for a while, he ended up in the front of a designer store, something you never even imagined walking into. Exiting the car, he walked to your side and opened the door, once again leading you inside of the brightly lit department store. Immediately, someone had approached the two of you, asking how they could help. Mentioning something about cocktail dresses, she led you farther back into the store and started pulling dresses off of the wall and hanging them on the door of a nearby dressing room.

“Doyoung, what’s going on right now?” You asked, eyes darting between the racks of expensive clothing and the dressing room door.

“Well, you wanted to see the high life,” he laughed “plus, you need to look the part of a senator’s girlfriend, don’t you?” Senator… A SENATOR?!

Suddenly everything started clicking together. The tall lanky brunette who was definitely too sophisticated to be walking into such a small flower shop. Kim. Kim Dongyong. The youngest man in congress, who was also known as the heartthrob of Korea. You were going on a fake date with the man women of all ages were fawning over, regardless of political alignment. What. In. The. Hell.

Zoning back into reality, Doyoung was waving his slender fingers in your face. Once he noticed a bit of sentience regained in them, he dropped his hand and cleared his throat. “I- I uh… I just realized that perhaps you didn’t know who I really was, it’s my fault really, I figured everyone in Seoul had at least a clue of what I looked like. That is a bit egocentric on my part. I understand if you no longer want to be my date for the evening.” His eyes were downcast, hands clasping behind him.

“No, no, no - it’s not that. I was just too slow to put all of the pieces together, and my apologies, I just don’t pay much attention to the news, it makes me sad.” You shook off the air of shock around you, regaining your composure. “Well, I guess I have to look the part to play the part, don’t I?” You laughed, looking behind you as Doyoung went to sit on the couch, ready to see whatever dress you picked out.

Soon, you were leaving that gorgeous marbled store in a new peach dress and white heels, with a clutch to match and your hair and makeup done to the nines. During the time you were being, well, pampered, Doyoung had changed into a smart casual suit with the shirt matching the peach color of your dress. He wore off white slacks and white dress shoes, looking more like a government official than ever before.

“Is there a reason we’re matching?” You asked, looking at Doyoung’s peach shirt and back to your peach cocktail dress. You had to admit, Doyoung looked unbelievably attractive in his suit, and the dress was doing you good as well.

“Don’t we look cute? I’m happy the peach looked good. You ready?” Doyoung asked, holding his arm out for you like a classic gentleman.

“I guess so. Lead the way Mr. Senator.” You grabbed Doyoung’s arm and soon enough, the two of you were in front of a very official dining hall, a sight you could only ever see in pictures on Google prior to 30 seconds ago. Holding onto Doyoung’s left arm, you walked up the steps and into the posh building. ’s grand entrance. You were greeted by a man in a traditional suit, the black blazer and slacks with a white collared shirt and a black tie made men look like penguins-and not very attractive ones. You were silently happy Doyoung hadn’t chosen to wear one.

“Ah, Senator Kim! How lovely to see you tonight. And I see you brought a plus one! Who might she be?” The man shook Doyoung’s hand and before you even had a chance to introduce yourself, Doyoung spoke on your behalf.

“Very nice to see you as well Mr. Jeon. And this lovely lady here is my-”

“Fiance.” You cut Doyoung off before he had the chance to say “girlfriend”. Why? Who knows. But you’re stuck with it-and Doyoung knew it.

“Yes, we just got engaged so forgive my fiance for jumping in. She’s quite excited.” Doyoung’s right hand covered yours and gave it a gentle squeeze, signaling to you that you needed to say something. Or at least, that’s how you perceived it.

“Ah, yes, I’m very sorry for intruding like that. I just adore being able to call myself his fiance, please forgive me.” You gave the Mr. Jeon a sweet smile, hoping your sugary tone of voice was enough for him not to get upset. Unbeknownst to you, however, Doyoung was suppressing the world’s most shit eating grin, knowing you were the one who dug yourselves this massive hole and you were gonna be the one to get yourselves out.

“No worries, how could I be angry at such a wonderful couple? Although, not just two days ago Senator Kim here was one of Korea’s most eligible bachelors. Seems a little fast paced for an engagement, no?”

“We’ve actually known each other for a couple years now, haven’t we dear?” Doyoung dragged out the little nickname, weirdly making your heart flutter a bit. You silently nodded in agreement. Mr. Jeon smiled and Doyoung made an escape attempt.

“Well it was nice seeing you here Mr. Jeon, I do hope to meet again after this. I figured my fiance and I should mingle a little bit, give me a true chance to show her off,” Doyoung smiled and shook the hand of Mr. Jeon before finally walking away with you hanging onto his elbow. You truly had no idea where he was going, but he made a beeline for somewhere and you were stuck following him, muttering hellos and nice to meet yous every time someone would try and speak with you two. Eventually Doyoung’s pace slowed and you found yourself near the back of the room by a couple security guards and a folding table for two. In true gentlemanly fashion, Doyoung pulled out a chair and motioned for you to sit before sitting himself right across from you.

“Fiance? Really? Seems kinda sus for a first date no?” Doyoung laughed, his gummy smile radiating pure sunshine at you from across the table. His tone and vocabulary completely shifted from the proper one he used with his political associates to a nonchalant and friendly one. You smiled back at him, giggling just a bit when Doyoung couldn’t quite stop his laughter.

“I have no clue. But on the brightside, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about girls wanting to court you anymore?” You shrugged your shoulders, signalling that if anyone did try, you weren’t to blame.

“That may very well be, but I can’t help but wonder what the headlines will look like once this news gets out. Maybe ‘Kim Dongyoung Engagement Announcement?’” Doyoung messed with the position of his watch on his left wrist and looked back up at you, seemingly expecting a response.

“You’re not being creative enough Mr. Kim. I bet it’ll be something like ‘Korea Loses its Most Eligible Bachelor Overnight to a Mysterious New Woman’” or something.” You laughed, thinking of many more outrageously dramatic headlines to come within the next 24 hour.

“Hm maybe. Wanna put something to that bet?” Doyoung asked, leaning ever so slightly over the table closer to you.

“Is that a challenge I hear?” You responded, mirroring his movements.

“You win, you become my real girlfriend. I win, you owe me three more dates then you can leave this entire life behind.” Doyoung sounded solemn when offering you an out, but you took this as a chance to be an outrageous flirt.

“Let’s hope I win then. We can’t add an engagement scandal to your name now can we?” You winked at the man in front of you, who only seemed stunned at your words. All you could do was stare into his eyes, an endless ocean of black drawing you further and further in-until Doyoungs phone went off. Awkwardly coughing, Doyoung answered his phone.

“What do you want? Huh? Now? Impeccable timing man. Yeah. I got it. See you at home. Bye.” Doyoung ended the call and huffed out a stressed sigh.

“Home?” You questioned. Doyoung never once mentioned his home in all your conversations together-granted you had only known him for 13 hours. But you were still curious.

“That was my brother, of sorts. Anyways we have to talk to the ambassador from West Africa now, he just arrived. Is my fiance ready?” Doyoung drug out the word fiance as if to flirt and mock you at the same time. You could only roll your eyes and smile. He held out his hand for you to take and led you to a group of officials you could only assume were the West African Ambassador’s party. The ambassador himself was first to acknowledge the two of you.

“Ah Mr. Senator Kim! What a pleasure it is to meet you again, and under much, better, circumstances. I do apologize for the actions of my guards, their aim is just terrible. And who might this lovely young lady on your arm be?” The ambassador spoke, shaking Doyoungs hand and then yours. But the one thing that caught your attention was the stress the Ambassador put on the word ‘better’ and then his mention of his guards’ terrible aim. Did they shoot at Doyoung? Why would a Senator of Korea be shot at by a West African guard? Is there something Doyoung isn’t telling you about?

“This is my fiance, Ms. Y/L/N. I do apologize for the lack of mentions about her, you see not even my staff knew about her until this morning.” Doyoung’s words were short and almost crude, his tone overly nice. It was obvious he didn’t like this man.

“Not a worry Mr. Kim. She’s lovely. You’re a lucky man. My daughter was too shy to come anyways. She’ll be heartbroken, but one can only do so much in the way of a fiance, yeah?” You had a hard time making sense of his words, half due to his heavy accent and half due to the fact that you couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of Doyoung being shot at.

“I do appreciate the understanding, Ambassador. Now, do you have it?” Doyoung asked, eyeing you as if you were listening in on a conversation you shouldn’t be hearing. You were just thoroughly confused about everything happening. Doyoung could’ve been shot and now he’s cryptically asking for something? There’s definitely more to this Senator than meets the eye.

“Only if you have what I asked for, Mr Kim.” The Ambassador responded, signalling to someone in his party to do something, because the minute the Ambassador’s hand moved, the man nodded and left as if he was on a mission.

“You should find that it’s exactly where you need it. We’re very thankful for this, Ambassador. Should you ever need help in the future, don’t hesitate to ask.” Doyoung shook the Ambassadors hand one more time before returning his arm to your waist, pulling you closer into his side. You were now clueless as to who this “we” was that Doyoung mentioned. Did it have to do with the brother-of-sorts he mentioned earlier? One of the Ambassador’s other men leaned over and whispered something to him, making the Ambassador smile.

“You are all set Mr. Kim. Thank you for the generosity. We will definitely be in contact should we ever need help.” With that, Doyoung smiled and turned on his heels towards the door. You wanted to ask Doyoung so many questions but before you could he pulled out his phone and opened a news app.

“Looks like you won this bet, Ms. Y/L/N. I do look forward to our future together,” Doyoung said as he shoved the phone screen in your face. You had to hold his shaky wrist to stabilize the words enough to read the latest headline “Kim Dongyoung, Korea’s Most Eligible Bachelor, Stolen by Mysterious New Woman".

[hallowscandlewrites]

The Lovers Club (It AU ReaderxAll the Guys)

The Lovers Club (It AU ReaderxBill,Richie,Ben,Eddie,Stanley,Mike)

Warning: Non-con, a little bit of dominate & submissive stuff, erotica themes. They are not kids in this fic. 

Summary: Reader has moved to Derry, Maine to care for her elderly grandmother. As an outsider all her life, y/n assumed Derry would be another place she wouldn’t fit in. However, she meet’s a group of young men (early/mid twenty’s) that secretly call themselves “The Lovers Club”. It’s not the type of club where they read books or make crafts, the “Lovers Club” is filled with pleasure & experiences that y/n never thought she’d have; the problem is, some of the men start getting possessive, they want her to be theirs, only theirs.

       The library was nearly empty. And that was how y/n liked it. She has only been in Derry for a week but has already found her favorite spot to be. Other than the suspicious looks from the librarian, y/n felt like the library was one of the two places she belonged; the other being the corner house, painted pink and purple flowers, it was an oddity in Derry, the color pallet here was grays, browns and greens.  Y/n was odd herself, mostly because she was new and in a small town like this, you know everybody but nobody knew her. 

    Y/n reminded herself that she only had a few hours before her she has to make dinner for her family, which was just her and her grandmother. Immediately, y/n went to the mystery section where the world of the unknown waited for her to get her hands on it. However, she wasn’t the only one with that idea. A young man was pulling out various books from the dusty shelves. 

    “Hello.” He looked at y/n and showed a shy smile. He was handsome with blondish, brunet hair and dark eyes. 

   A rush of heat filled y/n’s cheeks, and she looked at the ground, “Hey...”, the girl said as she began to observe the books. 

  While she wasn’t paying attention, the young man (Ben) scanned y/n from head to toe while her back was turned to him. Instantly, he thought she was cute; the shy way she pushed past him, the rose-red color her face turned. It reminded him of himself during his childhood, the way he’d stare longingly at a certain red-haired vixen that has since been long-gone. 

   Before Ben thought more, he blurted, “So what’s your name?” to the girl. She turned to him, her eyes wide. She fumbled with the few books she had in her hand, shaken by the sudden intrusion. 

  “Y/n..... L/n.” She said, smiling.

     Ben took a few seconds. Her last name did sound familiar but he couldn’t add anything up until.....

  “The pink house with the crazy purple flowers! That old woman who lives there....is she...” Ben trailed off, expecting y/n to fill in the obvious blanks. 

  “My grandmother? Yes, yes she is.” Y/N answered, slightly hoping that would be the end of the conversation but it wasn’t because Ben didn’t want it to be.

  “Well I’m Ben Hanscom.” Ben wanted to shake her hand or something but they both had a stack of books in their arms. 

     They spoke for an hour, getting to know a little bit about each-other. Ben was more of an open-book with y/n, where-as she.....held back. Ben thought, when he’d asked about her family and all she talked about was her grandmother and avoided mentioning anyone else. Otherwise, they had much in common. She reminded him of some of the guys and he reminded her of the elderly woman that was waiting for her at home. His attention was fully on her and although, in the past, that usually made her uncomfortable, it was rather nice with Ben Hanscom. 

  “I have to get back home now but it was nice meeting you.” Y/n said, grateful but in a hurry. 

    Before she could go, Ben grabbed her hand. “Please meet me here tomorrow! Same time.” He asked, his big, pleading eyes, glossed with comfort & kindness. 

  “I..I-I don’t know. Maybe.” She curtly said, rushing away and tightly holding herself around her torso. Her heart thumped excitingly. 

  Ben watched her leave, eyes narrowed at the new girl who’s captured his attention in a very short time. He would have to be careful though, because if his friends found out he had a girl all to himself.....they’d take her too.

   Y/n made a simple dinner for her and her grandmother. The elderly woman pressed intrusive questions at the table, asking why her grand-daughter had been smiling like a fool when she got home, why the young girl was too shaky to eat; why she had a dreamy, far off look in her eye during the majority of the meal. Y/n shook off the questions but couldn’t hide her buzz, physically. All she said was that maybe she’d made a friend, something y/n thought difficult to do as an adult. Sleep that night came later than sooner; it wasn’t just her nervous eating her up about the next day, it was the old couch that y/n had to sleep on that she was still getting use to. There wasn’t a second bedroom.

  The next day after hours of restless tossing and turning, y/n got up and got ready to do some errands. Her first stop, was to pick up some prescription drugs for grandma and some other items too. Finding the corner drug store was easy, but when y/n arrived, two men were leaning by the front door; chatting amongst themselves as if they weren’t blocking the way.

  “Excuse me....I-I need to get in, please.” Y/n asked, forcing herself to took the two men in the eyes.

   The shorter of the two men backed away kindly but the other with dark, bushy hair and thick glasses stood there, observing the girl as if she’d interrupted something important. 

  “Richie, come on! Let’s go get something to eat.” The shorter guy said, tugging the jacket covered arm of his pal. 

  Richie just stared at y/n but not with contempt, annoyance yes but something else, curiosity. “She stutter’s just like Bill. Funny.” Richie stepped away from the door, put an arm around his friends’ shoulder as they walked away, uninterested after-all. 

 Okay, that was weird, y/n thought, stepping into the drug store. 

     After that, y/n headed back her to grandmother’s to deliver the medicine then it’d be time to meet up with Ben. The thought of him sent a bolt of shivers down her back, the way he looked at her as if he’d discovered buried treasure. Y/n had boyfriends and a girlfriend or two but she still wasn’t a pro at dating. Her shyness always got the better of her and who ever she was with, got bored. Y/n wanted to do more things in her love life but it was as if there was an invisible wall that kept her from really touching her lover. 

      In the pink house decorated with purple flowers, in a rocking chair sat Y/n’s grandmother who had a book in her hands, the tv on as background noise. 

   “Here’s your stuff, remember to take it before dinner. I’m going to the library for a few hours and then I’ll be back, is that alright?” Y/n asked, crouching down to meet her family member’s eyes. 

  The elderly woman shook her head, “You’re an adult, you don’t have to ask me permission to go out, y/n. I’ll be fine but I would like to ask who you’ll be meeting?” 

   The smirk on her grandmother’s face said everything about how quickly she catches on. But y/n did not want to tell the truth, because y/n was here to take care of her family, not date, not make friends; the young woman didn’t even know how long she’d be in Derry, anyway.

   “Nobody, I promise. I just like the library a lot. Back home, ours closed down long ago so it’s nice to come to a place where you have one at all.” Y/n said. It wasn’t a total lie, the library she went to as a kid did close down about ten years ago which left a younger and smaller y/n disappointed. 

 Y/n walked, trying to keep a medium pace. She didn’t want to seem to excited or desperate to meet a man she just met yesterday. For all she knows, he could have lied as a cruel joke. 

   The library was an older building, not fancy, it was plain, with barely any decoration or posh detailing. It’s drab appearance fit in with the rest of the town, slightly run-down but rich in community and history. Y/n stood at the bottom of the steps, unable to move forward as if the invisible wall had planted itself between the building and her. Y/n forced a foot forward as the only way to get where she wanted to be,  a surge of confidence ripping through her as she entered the library doors; but all confidence drained from her when she spotted Ben at one of the tables, a stack of books next to him. None of them were being read. Ben had been waiting, as he checked his wrist watch and glanced around. 

    Y/n wanted to walk out and forget this meet-up. Thinking it makes her crazy to think this handsome guy was waiting for her. He didn’t even know her. But it was too late because a second later, Ben saw Y/n standing by the door. A big smile crossing his face, as he waved in a short notion. 

    Y/n met the young man at the table where he gestured for her to sit down.

   “Thanks for coming. I’ll be honest and say I don’t actually have a plan but I guess we can take it slow.” Ben admitted, his eyes darting to Y/n’s chest and them immediately back up to her face. 

  Y/n pretended not to notice, she was nervous too, she thought and didn’t want to judge but couldn’t help but think the deepness in his dark eyes held something more....sinister, something he was trying to tame and keep quiet like an animal inside his own mind. 

  “You’re just fine, what books did you-” She was unable to finish her question when a handful of men appeared out of no where, around the table.

   “Ben! Remember our plan! What are you doing here?” The curly haired boy with thick glasses asked. Y/n couldn’t help but think about how she’s seen him before. 

  Unfamiliar faces surrounded the table as well, each of them darting their attention from Ben to Y/n. 

     Ben adjusted in his chair, his eyebrows narrowed and he sighed. “I’m sorry I forgot about our plans.” He said, his voiced edged with anger.

   “I remember you from yesterday. You’re that girl. Eddie, its that girl from yesterday.’ Richie mocked, elbowing the shorter man near him who rolled his eyes. 

  “Yeah well come on. Bill and Mike are waiting at the house.” Riche said, grabbing Ben’s shoulder to make him stand.

  Ben grabbed the table, he looked at Y/n with an apologetic expression. He didn’t want to leave and Y/n didn’t understand why he didn’t just say no.

  “I don’t think he want’s to leave, guys.” Y/n said, her voice barely above a whisper but they heard her.  

  The air was thick is the seconds of silence that followed; whatever wasn’t being said made it seem like there was an invisible wall between all of them. But richie was the first to speak up.

  “May I remind you Ben, what happens when you break our rules. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to see your girlfriend here face the consequences of you actions for you. I think Bill would LOVE to have a girl in the group for the first time in years, don’t you think?” Richie said, putting a tight arm around Ben’s shoulders. 

    Ben thrashed out of his chair, pushing Richie away. He looked at Y/n with glassy eyes, his the corners of his lips turned down . Richie was smiling as Ben walked away with the group of boys except Richie himself and his best friend, Eddie. Richie turned his attention to Y/n, his eyes laced with malice. 

   “Don’t hang around here too much sweetheart.” Richie suggested, walking closer to y/n whose leg backs’ were stopped by a chair; she couldn’t go any further without tripping.

 “Unless you’d like to find out what we’d do to you, then by all means follow along.” Richie turned away and grabbed Eddie’s hand as they walked out of the library, leaving Y/n alone and confused. 

Later that night while her grandmother was her cat on the couch, Y/n forced herself to ask her grandmother about the strange young men she’d encountered earlier. 

  “Do you know who Ben Hanscom is grandma?” Y/n asked, taking a seat on the couch. 

  Her grandmother kept brushing the cat, “Oh that young man is actually pretty nice. I use to talk to his mother a lot; he was a chubby little thing but he’s grown quite handsome.”

  Y/n smiled, knowing that if her grandmother liked him then maybe things weren’t as weird as they seemed. “That’s great but what about his friends? Are there gangs here?” Y/n asked.

  Her grandmother stopped brushing the cat and looked at Y/n as if she just said something terrible while setting the brush on her side table. “Why are you asking about those boys? Did they harass you or something? Listen to me, Ben ain’t bad but those fellow men he hangs out with are trouble. They aren’t criminals, but they’re....dangerous I think. You don’t need to be around them, promise me you’ll stay away?” 

 “I can stay away.” Y/n said, not completely sure she meant that. 

  It took Y/n a few hours to decide if going into the deep end of this was worth it or not. I made her stomach bubble, flashes of heat touched her forehead and the invisible wall stayed still. All the signs were pointing to this being a bad idea, that Ben was one man in a town full of people just like him. However, maybe there wasn’t anyone like Ben. Others would look at Y/n and whisper to the next person or they’d just ignore her completely but Ben didn’t hesitate to let her in. Maybe it’d be wise to talk to Ben, away from those other men.

 Tomorrow. She’ll find him tomorrow and they’ll talk.

   The next day was bleak. Dark grey skies and heavy rain made Y/n grab her rain-coat, a yellow slicker that she got from the thrift store when she moved here. Nobody was on the streets, which was unusual for Derry, Saturday afternoon. Y/n made her way to the library but Ben wasn’t there and didn’t know where he would be; she really didn’t know anything about him so why was she wasting her own time trying to find this guy. But as she made her way out of the library, she ran into a familiar face; the smaller man that was always with Richie. Today he was by himself. 

  The two stared at each-other. Unlike Richie this guy didn’t look at her like he wanted fight her, he looked inconvenienced and.....sorry?

  “I don’t know where Ben is. He’s probably at home but I’m not sure. You should probably listen to Richie and stay away from us.” He said, brushing past Y/n like she was nothing.

  The woman got irate. She snapped as she gripped the arm of the stupid man and pulled him back in front of her. The rage diffused when she looked at his face and the general disdain in his narrowed eyes. His brows furrowed and he stepped back from Y/n but yet he couldn’t help but feel excited. Her touch did something to him and maybe that’s why Ben almost ditched the group yesterday for her. The group hadn’t had a newcomer in years and any candidates were liabilities. This woman however, Y/n, Ben had called her during the ‘meeting’ yesterday, could be the missing piece they needed. 

  It’s selfish, Eddie thought but he knew what he needed to do to test out his theory. “I’m Eddie, Ben’s friend. I don’t know where he is but we all usually meetup at our other friends house for some fun on Saturday night’s. Would you like to join us? There’ll be drinks and good-looking men.” Eddie finished with the childish smile that most people fall for.  

  Y/n hesitated. She’d have to call grandma and explain that she’d be late for dinner. Maybe, making some friends wouldn’t be terrible while she was here.

  “Yeah, I’ll go.”  Y/n stated. Eddie reached out his hand and Y/n took it. Eddie walked this girl to Bill Denbrough’s home. Bill was their leader. And Eddie was praying that Bill liked the new member he’d present to him. A young, naive woman who’d need to be taught some lessons; she’d need to be broken in. As to which person in the group would do that? They’ll know tonight.

  They walked in without knocking, and Eddie told Y/n to sit on the couch. She noticed that it sounded more like  a demand and not a question which made Y/n hesitate to sit but Eddie’s hard glare sent shivers down her spine and she sat.

  “Bill, It’s Eddie! I’ve got something to show you!” Eddie yelled up the stairs.

    Seconds later, footsteps came pounding down. A tall, handsome man came into the living room, clenching a ball of paper in one hand. “I’m busy doing work for the news paper.” 

 Eddie cleared his throat, “This is Y/n. I thought you’d want to meet her. maybe...” Eddie shrunk under Bill’s gaze. He couldn’t meet his leader’s eyes.

   Bill looked at Y/n. The woman was cute but that wouldn’t be enough for her to fit in. She looked at her feet while swinging her legs like a child. Bill rolled his eyes ready to dismiss her but a second glance caught an interesting detail. The yellow coat she wore reminded him of a terrible time. A memory that makes his heart ache and burn; that makes his brain pound his skull from the inside. 

  “Where’d you get that - that coat you’re wearing?” Bill stuttered, something he hasn’t done in years.

  “A thrift store, why?” Y/n asked, slightly scared by Bill’s anger. She wondered if he’s always like this but by Eddie’s raised eyebrows and the distance he put between him and Bill, makes her think not.

 Bill rushed over to Y/n and gripped the color of the coat forcing Y/n forward. “Take it off, right fucking now!” Bill yelled.

  Eddie stood in place, “Bill calm down. I thought she’d be interesting for you to meet because she’s the reason Ben almost didn’t show up yesterday.” Eddie confessed, his eyes darting between Bill and Y/n. 

   Bill looked her up and down, and smirked. He was still angry but something else now fueled him, determination. If she was the reason the usually loyal Ben lied to the group then he’d make and example of her then. Oh yeah she could be the new member of the group and in a few hours, Ben will see why he shouldn’t lie to his friends.

  Y/n jerked back onto the couch then began to sit up, “I need to go. I’m sorry if I disturbed you...” She said stepping towards the front door.

  “Sit back down. You’re not going anywhere.” Bill grabbed Y/n’s coat again and flung her onto the coach.

  “Sit there and be good for a few hours alright? If you don’t we’ll have to punish you, harder.” Bill said with each arm placed on either side of the woman’s head.

  Hours later, a few other men arrived; all of which y/n has seen before. There was Mike, Stanley Eddie, Bill and Richie. Richie glared at her awhile, making snide comments here or there at her while she desperately searched for Ben who had yet to show up. 

  Richie looked out the window “Guys he’s here!” He yelled. 

  Bill nodded at Richie who grabbed Y/n by the arm, “You’re coming with me sweetheart.” Richie said, leading Y/n upstairs. 

  Y/n tried to struggle out of Richie’s grasp but he held on to her tighter. “If you don’t stop, I swear it’ll just be worse for you.” He tugged her all the way to a master bedroom and threw her on the floor.

   They had been followed by a group of footsteps and guys yelling at each other. Ben entered the room first and when he saw Y/n on the floor, he had Richie pinned against a wall.

  “What the fuck are you thinking, bringing her into this! She did nothing wrong!” Ben was furious, his grip on Richie tightened as he pressed his friend further into the wall. 

 Bill cleared his throat, “You lied to us Ben and you know what happens when you lie to your friends. Show him Richie.” 

Richie released himself from Ben’s grip and got on his knee’s next to Y/n. She knew she was in trouble. All the men were staring at her, some of the amused or hungry. Ben was held back by Mike and Stanley.  Richie grabbed onto the girls’ clothes and started taking them off. Y/n slapped his hands away and backed into the wall but she was caught by Richie who pulled her legs back closer to him. 

  “Stop messing around or I’ll just fuck you harder.” Richie said, not taking his eyes off her body.

  Tears brimmed Y/n’s eyes. She thrashed around, refusing to let this happen to her but it did no good. Richie and Bill seemed turned on by her resistance. And Richie finished peeling off the last bit of clothes she had on, revealing her soft flesh colored mounds that she covered with her arms. 

  “Grab her wrists, I want to see her body.” Bill demanded and Richie complied with a smile.

  Richie hands firmly held Y/n’s wrists as he undid his pants. The rest of the group was in awe. They hadn’t had a girl in so long that Y/n was a miraculous sight. Her feminine curves, her lush hair and pouty lips made their knee’s weak but they all stood still, ready to watch the show.

  Richie was mesmerized by Y/n too which made him angrier. Richie looked at Eddie whose eyes were only on Y/n. Richie dug his nails into the girls skin as he prepared to enter her; he placed a hand by her face and caressed her, long enough that he could enter her with a hard thrust. He closed his eyes as he felt the luxury she was. Y/n just cried out by the rough penetration. She was no virgin but she’d never been taken like this.

 Richie opened his eyes to the pretty girl beneath him, in pain. He pouted, some part of him was guilty but he enjoyed this lifestyle and he enjoyed being dominate. He started to move in her, the wave of comfort he felt with this girl did not co-exist peacefully with the side of him that wanted to ravish her into tomorrow. He sped up his thrusting, hitting her harder while his hands travelled up and down her body. Some of her cries turned into low moans and Richie wanted to her more of her, so he went faster.

 Richie’s mouth found one of her nipples and he began to suck the delicate area while she shuddered beneath him. Richie began to groan loudly while Y/n’s moans became more clear. She grabbed onto his back and held him while his hands gripped her hips in way that’ll leave a bruise. He continued to pound into Y/n until he felt the surge to end, if he went any longer, he wouldn’t have a choice; but he didn’t care and kept riding with her until he was done. 

  Both of them laid silently as Richie let every last drop of his cum dispose into Y/n. The guilt, still present didn’t top the satisfaction he felt from taking her however as he got up, the realization hit Y/n like a truck. What had just happened to her was unimaginable but here she was, naked with a man she barely knows on-top of her. 

 The tears fell without permission and Y/n tried to hide them with her hands. Everybody saw it but they put their pleasure before her being and turned the other way. Richie looked down at her and couldn’t exactly determine what he was feeling as she cried and he didn’t like it.

  “Pathetic.” Richie called Y/n. He grabbed his clothes and rushed out of the room not ever looking back.

 Bill strode to her, satisfied that the introduction of the newest member of the club turned out well. He’d have fun with this girl, they all would. Fuck her over and over again and she’d have to get use to it.

 Bill leaned down to Y/n. Her eyes were pleading but he wasn’t going to help her. “Welcome to The Lover’s Club.” Bill said, smirking.

  Y/n didn’t know what to think or what to say. She laid there hoping this was all a nightmare but it was real. And it would become her life.

[carmenxjulia]

Showrunner Duane Capizzi did an informal Q&A session with some fans in a CS chatroom. There are several question askers, all marked by name. Get some insider knowledge on the show, after the break!

Duane Capizzi:

Just checking things out! Feel like I'm poking my head through a door at a party I'm crashing haha.

Fun to see everyone hanging out and talking all good things Carmen

Can't stay long - I should have taken the code name "Crimson Phantom"

Crimson Phantom - I like the sound of that (if it's not already taken haha)

Carmen:

It's an awesome nickname! Personally I'm more of a Scarlet Santa Rosa person myself- I love that little interaction with Jules and Carmen in the special

Duane Capizzi:

Scarlet Santa Rosa! Yes, that was really cute between them. Too cute in fact.

Coach Brunt had some names for her too if i recollect

Arden:

Lambkins

Wren:

Didn't Brunt also call her Monica Santa Monica once?

Mage:

Yeah in the Boston episode

Also Josie San Jose

Arden:

I personally prefer Fedora the Explora

Duane Capizzi:

Josie yes hahaha

I can't believe we got away with Fedora the Explorer! I thought that would be noted but I'm glad we did. So funny!

Carmen is amazing! She "owns" whatever she wears, doesn't she?

Carmen:

She definitely owns Carmen Brand Outerwear

Duane Capizzi:

I'll share another tidbit though (along the lines of Carmen being a love story where everyone is in love with Carmen).

It was important for obvious reasons that the show be (among other things) about female empowerment. And we wanted to celebrate fashion of course. But it was super important to me to not fall into the "male gaze" trap. That was something I imparted to the storyboard crew and directors. It's a fine line, I know, but I think we succeeded.

Arden:

You sure did. What I adore about Carmen Sandiego is how unsexualized all the characters were while still being inclusive to different body types and races

Duane Capizzi:

Well artists love to sneak things in! So it was a little rule I had

They were mostly great about it - in all the 32 episodes, I think I asked to change only two shots for that reason. Where I had to go "ahem"

"Outerwear" sounds so peculiar but I think that's what made it work. I kept changing it back and forth and sometimes I'm surprised to see/hear it in the show. For the longest time it was "Carmen Clothiers." Did I make the right decision? Sometimes you can rework things too much and lose sight - it happens!

The one shot that leaps to mind was Shadowsan carrying her fireman style at top of 202, as they were escaping through the tunnels. Her, um, fundamentals were just a little too front and center to not fall into the "male gaze" trap. Nothing awful! It was borderline. We just adjusted the angle a bit

Julia:

My favorite most definitely has to be her formal wear from the "need for speed caper"

Duane Capizzi:

I'd have to think about my favorite outfit or top five. All her evening gowns of course!

Maybe "witch." We couldn't make it red because it would not have been a very good disguise (plus, you know: "Scarlet Witch" haha).

But let's not underestimate her signature hat/coat - I continue to be enamored with how we updated her look from the old trench coat thing.

Arden:

Not me suddenly motivated to draw Carmen in a scarlet witch outfit

Duane Capizzi:

Then you have to draw Zack as Pietro!

(or Player? Only his fingers are speedy)

Arden:

Idea: what if player (or Shadowsan) was Pietro

Duane Capizzi:

Shadowsan IS Pietro. He's so quick you never see him move.

Wren:

Shadowsan's fight with Brunt where it went slowmo and he moved fast was so cool!

Duane Capizzi:

Hey, Shadowsan is quite the fashion plate too - am I right?

I love the outfits on the show. So good! So perfect! But, I'm not being very modest am I

I really love SS in the dark trench coat. So. Bad. Ass.

Carmen:

Any thoughts on the Fashionista memory thing?

Duane Capizzi:

Fashionista, sure! What do you want to know?

Carmen:

Give me a second-

Duane Capizzi:

Thank you for noting the aesthetics on the show! Much effort, passion and vision from all involved - Chromosphere, our directors, animators, composers, sound mixers - everyone gave it all they had, it was so inspiring for all involved.

Carmen:

Was there any significance to that specific memory- Carmen defending Julia in the Fashionista Caper- being chosen as the first memory she remembered when she went outside? Like, why that scene specifically over any others for example?

(referring to the finale)

Duane Capizzi:

Oh, that! To be honest, not from me: we were just trying to do the "swirl of confused memories" like we did with Gray earlier in the season. We wanted to show that the ACME device had jostled some old memories loose and that "the girl agent with glasses" was now taking root in Carmen's rush of memories/emotions

But that specific memory, not necessarily from my POV - it could have been any number of Julia moments, like their first meeting on the train (for instance)

The director Jos Humphrey must have picked it. It worked for me!

Carmen:

We all loved that it was that specific memory that was chosen out of all Julia and Carmen moments, the fact that she remembered defending her was an added emotional experience to the already emotional finale

Duane Capizzi:

Well let's talk about the original scene in 204! On the surface just a light fun episode, but so many things came together there: Shadowsan connecting with Player; SS getting his new clothes; but the key thing was switching Julia back from doing Chief's bidding back to Carmen's side. The episode was built around the moment that Carmen pulls Julia on stage with her (I'm not kidding). That was THE moment

Carmen:

We have MANY questions... we should probably set a limit

Duane Capizzi:

Ask away - I don't mind. Honestly, Carmen is my favorite topic! I've been living, breathing, dreaming Carmen for the last 5 years! I don't think there's much to say, I think it's all there on screen. But happy to talk about it because I love to

Cam:

I have a question, what about the color theory in Carmen Sandiego? What do you think certain colors mean as in, blue, yellow, green, and red.

we have our own ideas about the colors but it would be interesting to hear from your perspective

Duane Capizzi:

Color theory! Well chromosphere color scripts every episode (!). If those haven't been shared publicly yet remind me, maybe I can get permission to do so or have them do it. They are lovely to behold.

But basically Carmen = red (duh); Vile = green; Acme = blue. That's the simple version. We started talking about that early on.

color scripts = they do thumbnail art of key scenes to share mood/emotion

we tried to NOT use red for non-Carmen scenes; and scenes where she was significant the color red would be dominant or sometimes symbolically precede her (for instance).

If you google color scripts I'm sure you will see some come up. Try Pixar color scripts for instance. There's a great Art of Pixar book with their color scripts.

Arden:

Do you think Julia is blue or purple?

Duane Capizzi:

Haha, Jules definitely purple! Cute.

Mage:

You've just confirmed the whole color theory these guys have been working on for a while.

Duane Capizzi:

I was actually being funny - is she actually color scripted purple in the series? Wow, my mind might be blown

Garfield:

Now I have a question!

Julia has great admiration and respect for Carmen. Do you think Carmen has as much respect and admiration for Julia as Julia does for her?

Duane Capizzi:

I think Julia might just be a little infatuated with Carmen (even if she hasn't fully articulated how to herself - remember, the show may be sophisticated but it's still a kids show). But mostly Julia just knows/intuits/deduces Carmen's a good guy, pretty much from the beginning. I think the two have a connection that defies space and time in some ways - look at how much they work in tandem without being in the same scenes together much of the time. I love that!

As for Carmen, of course she respects Julia: she knows Julia "gets" her, and respects Julia's smarts and mutual love of history/respect for cultures.

I love how Chase is the ultimate buzzkill for whatever might be stirring in Julia as she's watching Carmen fly away in the Pilot. She's like, "whooaa ..." Then Chase falls onto the windshield. Hilarious!

Nina:

I was actually wondering if Carmen and Julia were meant to have opposing color schemes? With Julia's original outfit I mean

Duane Capizzi:

Oh, good question about Julia's original outfit: I'd have to think about that or ask Jos or Chromosphere. J's colors ARE sort of a drabber distant cousin to Carmen's, aren't they? I think mostly we just wanted "drab workaday" colors for Interpol, knowing that both of them would eventually be slicked up as ACME Agents.

Nova:

Devineaux is immune to injuries it is the only reason why he has lasted so long in ACME and Interpol

Duane Capizzi:

Devineaux, one of my favorite lines: "I did not know you two kept in touch."

Am I right?

SelinIndigo:

I have one question:

Will we ever know Carmen's given name? Also, if you don't mind when is her birthday in this reboot?

Duane Capizzi:

Carmen's given name: never say never! But for where our series ended, I thought it would just interfere. That's not how I wanted you to remember her. It would have just been a label and spoiled her mystique IMO

Player, however: we totally messed with you! "Mr. Bouchard."

Carmen's birthday?

Hmmm.

Maybe month and day but not year: would hate to date the show

I also don't like naming ages in shows because it just gets weird with timelines and such. Or can be.

Carmen:

I made a post about this a while back— how did Carmen end up getting Julia's apartment address? did she just text her for it or straight up ask? did she find out on her own in the least stalker-y way possible? I just have so many theories- do you have any thoughts on it?

Duane Capizzi:

The apartment in the IA special? Oh that whole story was like one big dream sequence ;)

Arden:

What does the wink mean? Does Julia even live in an apartment?

Nina:

Does that mean Carmen dreamt she gave Julia roses or-

Duane Capizzi:

We played things faster and looser for fun there

Okay, I just saw what time it is. Yikes! Time flies when you're having fun. Well THANK YOU EVERYONE (for loving the show, for building this site, for being you.

[fizzingwizard]

OK gang here we go, episode 33!

It was better than last week, which was better than the week before, so... make of that what you will.

Pic of the week!

A look of steely Dan determination.

More below!

Like I said, this episode is an improvement on the last one, by virtue of plot stuff actually happening, a few big happenings, and references to the other kids that suggest they haven’t been completely forgotten about (only mostly). Don’t get excited though - it still leaves much to be desired. I cry endlessly for the animation budget. But let’s get into it...

Taichi and friends are still in pursuit of SkullKnightmon and Hikari. We found our for sure last week that the creature in the little crystal is, indeed, Millenniumon, or rather a fragment of him, and his fragments fell all around the Digital World at the end of the great war or whatever it’s called and they’re the source of the miasma and they absorb energy from the human world etc etc...

So we find this big ass crystal which seems to be the central one, I guess? because it’s the biggest? and several creepy looking acolytes (dun dun DUN it’s VADEMON my FAVORITE DIGIMON) surrounding it and chanting...

Vademon: Find the horcux, kill Harry Potter, find the horcrux, kill Harry Potter,

In other news, there’s a lot of doom and gloom happening with Jou, who, bereft of his underwear, is forced to censor himself with his partners head. Gomamon you don’t deserve this

Jou: I need to get away from these Nanimon before I go prematurely bald too!!

Mimi, meanwhile, is Boxing Champion of the World.

Koushirou is the only one working. He’s on his way to pick up Jou, so I guess that means Yamato will get Mimi? That’ll be fun lol. We saw Yamato for half a second but it was the same frame of him riding Garurumon we’ve seen five times already so why bother capping it.

Koushirou is also keeping an eye on the satellite situation but doesn’t know what to do about it yet. Kabuterimon asks if he shouldn’t take a break about now and Koushirou says “I’m okay, besides, this is the only thing I’m good for” T___T you know this would be heart-breaking if I really believed the writers have ACTUAL PLANS to make good on Koushirou-related character development.... >:[

no this honestly pisses me off so much but I STILL do believe we will get SOMETHING for him and the others and probably not too far in the future... I think... I hope ugh

Back to Team A, they see lots of Digimon coming at them. Taichi’s like “it’s an attack!” but Sora, whose Fight Mode unlike Taichi’s has an actual Off switch, is about to figure out that they are in fact not interested in the kids at all and are running away from something.

Taichi: I can’t believe they didn’t want to kill us. Doesn’t everything in this world want to kill us?

The Digimon are fleeing from a suspicious crater with a familiar stone in the center. SkullKnightmon raises his own crystal fragment into the air and stuff happens.

By stuff I mean black lightning and purple-blue light which is meant to signify Evil which is mega DUMB because blue and purple are the most awesome color combo EVER I mean it throw some turquoise in there too and I will buy it whatever it is a necklace a shawl a codpiece

There are eight crystals that rise from the ground surrounding the central crystal and share energy with it. I thought the number eight might be significant you know for obvious reasons but it doesn’t appear to matter in this episode.

Evil crystals or not, Taichi’s on his way to save Hikari once and for all!

Hikari: Thanks, but no thanks, oniichan.

Taichi: H-Hikari! You don’t understand! You’re too young to go off with a strange man!

Hikari: But oniichan I love him

Taichi: Who do you think I am, Tevye!? You’re not marrying him and that’s final!

Hikari: waaah why don’t you understand me!!

ok back to the story...

Hikari abandons her brother for his muscular studly lover SkullKnightmon.

... >_>

Using Hikari’s powers, SkullKnightmon evolves to Gundamon DarkKnightmon. Meanwhile there’s lots of chanting and stuff about this being SkullKnightmon’s purpose or some such. I still kinda hope we get a redemption arc for SkullKnightmon or that he has something more to do with the story...

Agumon stops Taichi from wigging out and they go to save Hikari together, but before they can they are beset from all angles by henchmen.

Sora: Hey, you take care of Tweedle Dee and I’ll get Tweedle Dum!

Birdramon: *gets punched in the head* I hope you brought enough aspirin...

Then these guys appear. I’ve forgotten their names but evil as they look they literally just stand there till they get blown up and then more appear... I guess that’s a kind of talent

Takeru: Leave the small fry to me!

Pegasusmon: Takeru when I said I wanted a Happy Meal this isn’t what I meant

Hikari begins to be absorbed into a dark pocket dimension of DarkKnightmon’s or something like that. It seems like a very chill experience.

Taichi: I’ll save you! Take my hand!

Hikari: O... nii... chan... Fuck you...

ok so here’s my problem here.

This is meant to be all emotional and stuff right?? Hikari’s been blowing off her brother for an unknown reason (we all figured out what it was but look the main characters don’t know and that’s what counts) and he’s finally managed to catch up with her. His hand is inches away from catching hers and pulling her to safety. She’s got creepy glowing eyes. She mouths “o..nii...chan...” with a creepy smile before being pulled into darkness.

I know it’s for kids so it’s not going to be too scary or anything but there ‘just like... no build up here. The storytelling style is too mathematical. “We go from Plot Point A to Plot Boint B via Battles 1 2 and 3...” There’s nothing happening in between to make us feel Taichi’s desperation, or even to know what Hikari’s feeling in this moment. Is she really okay with this? Is she having second thoughts? It doesn’t make any sense for her not to be scared. I fully expected her to go through with it, but she can be scared and still go through with it... come on...

It’s like that scene from Utena except sapped of any and all emotional impact.

I don’t really remember how Greymon got up there in the first place since he can’t fly but at least we get a scene of him and Taichi plummeting to the earth after failing to save Hikari. The kind of thing that would be dramatic if there were any kind of animation budget at all.

The one thing the show is sure to do is show us Taichi’s expressions, which I guess is something... It’s just so rushed and the accompanying dialogue leaves something to be desired.

Greymon: Don’t give up, Taichi... Taichi... um. what are you doing...

Taichi: stop hitting yourself stop hitting yourself stop hitting yourself stop hitting yourself

Anyway, Taichi is Big Mad. I thought (hoped, to be honest) that we might get a glimpse of him going wild with dark energy like in the Devimon episode again... Or at least a hint that that was a possibility in the heat of the moment before Agumon snapped him out of it. But nope.

He takes a moment to be upset and then says “There’s no time to worry about what to do” and goes to save Hikari... from inside DarkKnightmon somehow :P

This does not go well.

Meanwhile Hikari is surprisingly okay for someone who was just eaten alive by sentient VantaBlack. She discovers a peculiar light inside... DarkKnightmon’s intestine??? Is that where we are now??? lmao

She recognizes the light as the voice that has been calling her and tries to head towards it, but is blocked by some purple jello.

There’s a kind of cool thing that happens here... We just had a scene where Taichi desperately tries to grab his sister’s hand and yank her out of the clutches of evil, but fails, mostly because she doesn’t do anything to help him since she is weirdly okay with the situation. Now we get a mirror of that moment with Hikari bursting out of the jello with her arm outstretched to grab what is clearly Tailmon’s paw.

Only Tailmon does take Hikari’s hand.

It was really cool to see the brother and sister paralleling each other this much. It shows the ways they’re both courageous and determined and caring.

Meanwhile Taichi finally whips out WarGreymon. Honestly, I feel like this should have been WarGreymon’s intro episode. This would have been a good time for a new evolution, rather than in a fight with a nobody that I’ve already forgotten. Idk. WarGreymon uses Brave Tornado to knock DarkKnightmon’s lances away and burrow into his armor. So, yeah, Hikari’s in his intestines, lmao.

Hikari is being chased by a two-headed monster who is in for the migraine of its (their?) life when the tornado crashes into it.

Hikari: Big brother! You look so cool!

Taichi: Promise me that no matter how many men come into your life, I’ll always be number one.

Hikari: okay that is creepy

WarGreymon explodes DarkKnightmon from the inside out x’D and Taichi gets a redo of his hand-reaching scene. First he berates Hikari for running off on her own and then smiles.

Hikari says she always believed he’d rescue her. Aww.

Sweet sibling love.

Then there’s this really hilarious sound which turns out to be the Vademon hivemind giving a collective cry of distress x’D it’s lmfao amazing. Then they start chanting “Next time next time next time” just in case you thought Millennium was defeated and we can go home now.

Taichi: Sora, do you know where I can buy a leash for this kid? I can’t keep chasing her like this. Aren’t kids today supposed to be glued to their phones and never go outside?

Patamon’s Girlfriend Radar piques at the bundle in Hikari’s arms.

And it is indeed Tailmon, and she’s been waiting for Hikari all this time.

Tailmon: I am Tailmon, a Holy Digimon.

Patamon: oh my god you can’t just call yourself holy ugh you’re so self-centered

D’awww.

They’re both sooooo cute. I’m annoyed they didn’t get a cool ending card like Takeru and Patamon did last week though. But still, this is a sweet moment.

So, there’s not a lot to complain about in this episode, comparatively speaking. I wish we had more dialogue and understood the value of a dramatic pause etc. Also wish Sora and Takeru had more to do than fight the henchmen. Like, if you can just erase an entire part of an episode and it still works fine, you clearly didn’t need that part so why waste time on it.

But at least we do get reactions from Taichi, and at least we got plot development. The Taichi/Hikari parallels were cool. And even though I had other hopes for how this arc would turn out, I’m glad it’s over because maybe we can finally do some other stuff now. Maybe. I want to get back to Koushirou SOOO bad but more than anything I am still gobsmacked by how long it’s been since Yamato’s had anything to do but ride on Garurumon. That is WEIRD. He’s YAMATO.

Next week...

... Looks like it’ll be a light-hearted undersea episode. I’m cool with that. The preview clips had a “Sebastian’s Calypso” vibe that I dig. It’s still about Taichi’s group but I think that’s to do more actual face time with Tailmon and Hikari. I hope we see the others as well and if not maybe the week after. I will be happy if this episode has some personality to it.

[bnhabadass]

Stoner Head Canons Part 2

A request from my dear friend @mhastories​. Congratulations on 1,000 followers, love!

Head canons for Sero, Kaminari, Mina, Shinsou, and Dabi getting stoned.

Parings: Sero x reader, Kaminari x reader, Mina x reader, Shinsou x reader, Dabi x reader Warnings: Marijuana use

Sero:

If you ever wondered what Sero’s room smelled like, it’s probably some sort of exotic incense scent. You know, to cover up the weed smell.

The two of you are chilling in his room. He’s at his desk rolling the joint. You’re lounging about in his hammock.

The way he licks the joint is so enticing to you. You watch as a string of saliva connects his lips to the paper before he finishes rolling.

“You want the first hit?” he asked.

You nod enticingly as you reach for the joint.

He hands you a lighter that has is the same colors as his hero costume. He probably ordered it special online.

You put the lighter up to the joint and the joint up to your lips. You breathe in, sucking the drug up and hold it for a few seconds. When you finally breathe out, smoke leaves both your mouth and nose. Your eyes are already bloodshot when you open them.

Sero grins at you, his smile wide as ever and he hasn’t even taken a hit yet.

“You know,” he said before putting the joint to his lips and taking a hit. “You’re pretty sexy when you’re on drugs.”

“I could say the same about you.” You poked your finger against his chest as you felt the drug start to kick in.

The two of you spent the night playing Mario Kart and eating stale popcorn while watching movies.

Sero is the kind of person you would want to spend the night in with when stoned.

He knows how to have a good time without leaving the comfort of one’s bed.

If you’re feeling a little nauseous from all the food or you’re dehydrated, he’ll stop everything he’s doing to take care of you.

“I’ll make you some tea.” “No don’t get up.” “Want me to rub your shoulders for you?” are some of the most common things he’ll say in this situation.

He’s definitely someone you’ll smoke with often.

Kaminari:

He’s already an idiot, even without the weed.

Sero gave him some of his stash after begging for a while.

It was the weekend meaning you were allowed to leave campus. You and the other girls were at a restaurant when you got a text from Kaminari telling you to come to his dorm when you get back.

You were intrigued as to what he had in store for that night, and to be honest a little worried.

When you did get back you noticed that his room smelled like a Spencer’s Gift Store and more like a dispensary.

“So,” Kaminari said. “Wanna smoke up?”

Smoking with Kaminari isn’t very interesting until the weed really hits him and he goes crazy.

He’s really giggly. Everything makes him crack up.

He tried playing with his uvula. He almost threw up and you had to pull his hand out of his mouth.

He chills out after a while and the two of you were laying on his floor listening to music and just staring up at the ceiling.

There was a moment of existentialism that the two of you shared.

“What if we don’t make it as heroes.”

“I’m not good at anything else so we better make it as heroes.”

“Exactly! Like we’re pouring our heart and souls into this education and what if it’s all worthless.”

The moment stopped when you remembered a video you saw of a woman falling off a horse.

The rest of the night was spent watching Sea World fail videos.

Mina:

She’s really wild whenever she smokes.

She’s a fan of stick and poke tattoos, and will always try to convince you to let her give you one when she’s high. Either that or dying your hair. Basically any body modification she wants to do on you.

Sometimes she can get really emotional under the influence.

You guys watch a lot of shöjo anime while high. It always makes her cry, even when it isn’t a particularly emotional moment.

“(Y/n) they just love each other so much!!!”

If you guys are feeling super brave you might go downstairs and try baking something together. But most of the time you’ll eat all of the junk food she’s been hoarding in her room.

Conversing with sober people while high is really fun, so sometimes you guys will bother Bakugo together. He hates it so much because he’s usually trying to sleep, but let’s say he’s on the couch in the common room.

You guys go up to him and start poking his face with twinkies and other foods.

“WILL YOU ASSHOLES QUIT IT!”

The other girls don’t usually partake with you two. You got Jiro to join you guys once, but other than that it’s just you two, a fat joint, and a box of hostess cupcakes.

Shinsou:

Purple haze. That’s your nickname for him for obvious reasons.

He prefers indica blends. They calm him down and make it easier for him to fall asleep.

He can get super emotional and clingy if he smokes too much.

“(Y/n) you love me, right?”

“Of course I do, babe.”

“Right but you love me, right?”

Cuddling with Shinsou is one of your favorite things to do while stoned. He’ll rest his head in your lap and you’ll play with his wild hair, rolling it between your fingers. Sometimes you’ll be spooning in bed and the two of you just love feeling your bodies pressed against each other.

His favorite munchie snacks are wasabi peas.

You guys have even created a game out of it. You throw the pea at him. If it lands in his mouth that’s fifty points. If it gets stuck in his hair that’s twenty five. If it gets stuck in his clothing that’s ten.

You end up missing his mouth by a longshot because, well, you’re high.

You have wasted a lot of food over the months of smoking together.

Dabi:

“You wanna hit?”

You were surprised when Dabi handed you the joint he’d been smoking at the bar, but you took it nonetheless.

You sucked in and reveled in the sweet burning sensation that hit your lungs.

You didn’t realize this at the time, but Dabi thought that watching you take a hit from the joint and exhale a long stream of smoke was the sexiest thing imaginable.

He drank in your body, and he told you that you should take another hit when you tried to hand it back to him.

The next thing you know, the two of you are going on a wild-ass adventure through town stealing shit, drinking, burning people alive. The usual for him, but it was a whole new experience for you.

“It’s about time we ruined your innocence.”

You liked being his little accomplice that night. You and Dabi hadn’t really interacted much before then, and after getting high with him you never wanted the night to end.

It did end, however, when the two of you were kicked out of a Walmart (or at least the Japanese equivalent) for attempting to steal a bunch of food. I don’t blame you though. You guys had hella munchies.

[marshmellowmin]

A “Fake” Love Story Pt.1| Mafia!Doyoung AU

1st of all-I’m so sorry we haven’t posted an update to the series in so long! @smorechan and I are both in school currently and have been hyper focused on that. Combine that with quarantine writers block and you get us not updating for almost 9 months straight. 

2nd of all-thank you to everyone who has been reading and supporting the series! It means so much to us! We would love to hear your thoughts on the series and who you want us to write next! 

3rd of all- I’ll be including a masterlist soon! It will be linked in my bio!

This series is a collaboration between myself (@marshmellowmin) and the author @smorechan. Please continue to support us as we release more related content and continue our stories. Thank you!

Doyoung: Politician. Ended up in congress when the last President was impeached, makes sure the laws work in favor of S-NCT. Was a trade dealer before becoming a politician. Is popular amongst the common population of Korea.

Years in Mafia: 10

Weapon of Choice: Billet 4x4 Snatch Rope

Body count: 3

___

  *Ding*

“Thank you for coming to Cherry Blossom Co! How can I help you today?” You popped your head up from the rose bush you were plucking at the moment to look towards the door of your little flower shop. By the daisies and petunias stood a man in his early to mid twenties, shifting his eyes between the flowers before landing on your own figure. 

“ Ah, I was wondering if I could get a bouquet made by tonight? Every other shop in the area is backed up with orders.” He gave a small smile before pulling his wallet out of his suit pocket “I can pay extra if it helps.” 

Walking from around the massive flower pot, you wiped the dirt off of your gloves before taking them off and shoving them into the apron tied around your waist. “Don’t worry about paying extra, I can make it for you right now!” Walking over to the workbench you pulled out a basic brown wrapping paper, folding it and laying it flat down on the table. “What is the occasion? A date maybe?” You looked up to the stranger, who had moved from the daisies over to the lilies, running his fingers gently along the petals. He probably had no problem securing a date, if he wasn’t married already. Tall, handsome and a soothing voice with a calm face. 

“Uh… not exactly” He set out a whispered laugh, scratching the back of his head, “ I have to meet the daughter of one of my associates tonight, I figured I should come prepared.” So he wasn’t married, nice.

“Well, do you have any idea what type of flowers you want? Big or small bouquet? And do you want a message written with it?” You pulled twine and cardstock along with lettering pens from under the counter.

“I know absolutely nothing about flowers, a decent sized bouquet and no message please, I wouldn’t know what to write,” He laughed again, this time bringing his hand to pull at his cuff sleeves. You chuckled at the man’s cluelessness, putting away the pens and cardstock. Even though he looked like a super smooth and suave guy, it was obvious he was oblivious to the world of romantics. 

“Well, what kind of a meeting is it? Professional, casual, or maybe even romantic?” You asked, walking around the hydrangeas and closer to the wildflowers before finally reaching the most popular flower, the red roses.

“What kind of flowers are your favorites?” He asked, following you around your small shop, eyeing every type of flower. Surprised by the question, you paused in front of the chrysanthemums.

“I like them all, if I’m being honest. But a bouquet of different types of wildflowers and lavender are my personal favorites. I always have some on display in my living room. Do you have a favorite flower?” You figured making small talk would help hurry his decision along-and maybe come back to your shop again. 

“I like that one flower, it grows a lot in America, it uhhh, it almost looks like a daisy but it’s petals are blue and purple and pink” He gave another nervous laugh, whipping out his phone this time before clicking around and unceremoniously shoving the phone into your own hands. A picture of a field, in what you assumed to be America, was on the screen, with beautiful flowers all across it.

“Those look like New England Asters!” You grinned widely, laughing. Moving back over to the wildflowers, you picked up a handful of the colorful flowers, showing them to him proudly. “I even have them in stock!” 

“Wow, I didn’t know you could find them in Korea.” He followed you back through the store as you pulled different flowers from bushes and buckets before you made it back to the workbench. You continued to make small talk as you made the bouquet, finishing it much quicker than you expected. 

“Here it is!” You held it up with pride, handing it over to him, which he gently took from you, a smile appearing. 

“Thank you so much, here, how much do I owe you?” He went to pull out his wallet again, before you raised a hand in an attempt to stop him. 

“Don’t worry about it. I had fun talking to you and I love making bouquets for people who enjoy the work behind it, so consider it on the house. Anything else you need?” 

“Um, I know this is gonna sound really weird, but will you come to this meeting with me? As a um, uh, a date?”

“I’m sorry?” You choked, halting all movements to put together the bouquet.

“Well, uhm I was supposed to court the daughter of the associate I’m meeting with tonight, which is why I needed the bouquet, but she’s like 16, and on top of her being way too young, she’s a total brat who’s never been told ‘no’ in her life. So you can see why I want to avoid courting her as much as possible,” the man awkwardly laughed and rubbed the nape of his neck, looking anywhere else but at you. You were shocked by his story, not quite believing that a man would actually marry off his 16 year old daughter to a man who appeared to be in his early twenties. You couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man’s position, and also happy he wasn’t a creepy pedophile.

“I’ll go with you, but on one condition. Tell me your name.” You smiled, tending to your bouquet once again. The man smiled brightly at your answer and chuckled a bit when he realized he had never told you his name. 

“It’s Kim Doyoung. Nice to meet you,” Doyoung looked at the embroidered name on your apron right below your left collarbone, “Y/N. Should I pick you up here around 6?” 

“Alright. I will see you at 6 Mr. Kim Doyoung. Doyoung nodded and the two of you spent the next few minutes asking questions about each other and how the meeting tonight would go down. As it turns out, the associate he was meeting tonight was West African and had connections all over the world, and Doyoung was trying to work with him to get some of the connections. He never mentioned what the connections were for though, which you found odd. Most men love to brag about their work experiences, while Doyoung tended to tell little pieces of his experiences. Eventually the bouquet was finished and Doyoung had to leave, something you both regretted-though the thought of seeing him again tonight kept you on your toes with excitement bubbling in your stomach.  

The rest of your day was just as mundane as you had expected. Nothing more than a husband with an upset wife at home, a young man on his first date, and a girl - looking for flowers to press - came into the shop. Still, your thoughts were filled with the image of a tall and lanky brunette that was supposed to be here any minute. 

5:59, you heard the chime of the front door opening, and walked in the same man from hours earlier. “Are you ready?” He asked, moving to the edge of the counter that you were behind, holding out his hand. “I promise that I will make it as adventurous as possible.” He gave out a chuckle as you timidly took the hand that he had offered. 

“I can’t wait to see what a high life you live Mr. Kim.” You joked, as he led you out to his car, waiting for you to lock the door to the shop. 

Driving for a while, he ended up in the front of a designer store, something you never even imagined walking into. Exiting the car, he walked to your side and opened the door, once again leading you inside of the brightly lit department store. Immediately, someone had approached the two of you, asking how they could help. Mentioning something about cocktail dresses, she led you farther back into the store and started pulling dresses off of the wall and hanging them on the door of a nearby dressing room. 

“Doyoung, what’s going on right now?” You asked, eyes darting between the racks of expensive clothing and the dressing room door.

“Well, you wanted to see the high life,” he laughed “plus, you need to look the part of a senator’s girlfriend, don’t you?” Senator… A SENATOR?!

Suddenly everything started clicking together. The tall lanky brunette who was definitely too sophisticated to be walking into such a small flower shop. Kim. Kim Dongyong. The youngest man in congress, who was also known as the heartthrob of Korea. You were going on a fake date with the man women of all ages were fawning over, regardless of political alignment. What. In. The. Hell. 

Zoning back into reality, Doyoung was waving his slender fingers in your face. Once he noticed a bit of sentience regained in them, he dropped his hand and cleared his throat. “I- I uh… I just realized that perhaps you didn’t know who I really was, it’s my fault really, I figured everyone in Seoul had at least a clue of what I looked like. That is a bit egocentric on my part. I understand if you no longer want to be my date for the evening.” His eyes were downcast, hands clasping behind him.

“No, no, no - it’s not that. I was just too slow to put all of the pieces together, and my apologies, I just don’t pay much attention to the news, it makes me sad.” You shook off the air of shock around you, regaining your composure. “Well, I guess I have to look the part to play the part, don’t I?” You laughed, looking behind you as Doyoung went to sit on the couch, ready to see whatever dress you picked out. 

Soon, you were leaving that gorgeous marbled store in a new peach dress and white heels, with a clutch to match and your hair and makeup done to the nines. During the time you were being, well, pampered, Doyoung had changed into a smart casual suit with the shirt matching the peach color of your dress. He wore off white slacks and white dress shoes, looking more like a government official than ever before. 

“Is there a reason we’re matching?” You asked, looking at Doyoung’s peach shirt and back to your peach cocktail dress. You had to admit, Doyoung looked unbelievably attractive in his suit, and the dress was doing you good as well.

“Don’t we look cute? I’m happy the peach looked good. You ready?” Doyoung asked, holding his arm out for you like a classic gentleman.

“I guess so. Lead the way Mr. Senator.” You grabbed Doyoung’s arm and soon enough, the two of you were in front of a very official dining hall, a sight you could only ever see in pictures on Google prior to 30 seconds ago. Holding onto Doyoung’s left arm, you walked up the steps and into the posh building. ’s grand entrance. You were greeted by a man in a traditional suit, the black blazer and slacks with a white collared shirt and a black tie made men look like penguins-and not very attractive ones. You were silently happy Doyoung hadn’t chosen to wear one. 

“Ah, Senator Kim! How lovely to see you tonight. And I see you brought a plus one! Who might she be?” The man shook Doyoung’s hand and before you even had a chance to introduce yourself, Doyoung spoke on your behalf.

“Very nice to see you as well Mr. Jeon. And this lovely lady here is my-”

“Fiance.” You cut Doyoung off before he had the chance to say “girlfriend”. Why? Who knows. But you’re stuck with it-and Doyoung knew it.

“Yes, we just got engaged so forgive my fiance for jumping in. She’s quite excited.” Doyoung’s right hand covered yours and gave it a gentle squeeze, signaling to you that you needed to say something. Or at least, that’s how you perceived it.

“Ah, yes, I’m very sorry for intruding like that. I just adore being able to call myself his fiance, please forgive me.” You gave the Mr. Jeon a sweet smile, hoping your sugary tone of voice was enough for him not to get upset. Unbeknownst to you, however, Doyoung was suppressing the world’s most shit eating grin, knowing you were the one who dug yourselves this massive hole and you were gonna be the one to get yourselves out.

“No worries, how could I be angry at such a wonderful couple? Although, not just two days ago Senator Kim here was one of Korea’s most eligible bachelors. Seems a little fast paced for an engagement, no?”

 “We’ve actually known each other for a couple years now, haven’t we dear?” Doyoung dragged out the little nickname, weirdly making your heart flutter a bit. You silently nodded in agreement. Mr. Jeon smiled and Doyoung made an escape attempt.

“Well it was nice seeing you here Mr. Jeon, I do hope to meet again after this. I figured my fiance and I should mingle a little bit, give me a true chance to show her off,” Doyoung smiled and shook the hand of Mr. Jeon before finally walking away with you hanging onto his elbow. You truly had no idea where he was going, but he made a beeline for somewhere and you were stuck following him, muttering hellos and nice to meet yous every time someone would try and speak with you two. Eventually Doyoung’s pace slowed and you found yourself near the back of the room by a couple security guards and a folding table for two. In true gentlemanly fashion, Doyoung pulled out a chair and motioned for you to sit before sitting himself right across from you.

“Fiance? Really? Seems kinda sus for a first date no?” Doyoung laughed, his gummy smile radiating pure sunshine at you from across the table. His tone and vocabulary completely shifted from the proper one he used with his political associates to a nonchalant and friendly one. You smiled back at him, giggling just a bit when Doyoung couldn’t quite stop his laughter.

“I have no clue. But on the brightside, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about girls wanting to court you anymore?” You shrugged your shoulders, signalling that if anyone did try, you weren’t to blame.

“That may very well be, but I can’t help but wonder what the headlines will look like once this news gets out. Maybe ‘Kim Dongyoung Engagement Announcement?’” Doyoung messed with the position of his watch on his left wrist and looked back up at you, seemingly expecting a response.

“You’re not being creative enough Mr. Kim. I bet it’ll be something like ‘Korea Loses its Most Eligible Bachelor Overnight to a Mysterious New Woman’” or something.” You laughed, thinking of many more outrageously dramatic headlines to come within the next 24 hour.

“Hm maybe. Wanna put something to that bet?” Doyoung asked, leaning ever so slightly over the table closer to you.

“Is that a challenge I hear?” You responded, mirroring his movements.

“You win, you become my real girlfriend. I win, you owe me three more dates then you can leave this entire life behind.” Doyoung sounded solemn when offering you an out, but you took this as a chance to be an outrageous flirt.

“Let’s hope I win then. We can’t add an engagement scandal to your name now can we?” You winked at the man in front of you, who only seemed stunned at your words. All you could do was stare into his eyes, an endless ocean of black drawing you further and further in-until Doyoungs phone went off. Awkwardly coughing, Doyoung answered his phone.

“What do you want? Huh? Now? Impeccable timing man. Yeah. I got it. See you at home. Bye.” Doyoung ended the call and huffed out a stressed sigh. 

“Home?” You questioned. Doyoung never once mentioned his home in all your conversations together-granted you had only known him for 13 hours. But you were still curious.

“That was my brother, of sorts. Anyways we have to talk to the ambassador from West Africa now, he just arrived. Is my fiance ready?” Doyoung drug out the word fiance as if to flirt and mock you at the same time. You could only roll your eyes and smile. He held out his hand for you to take and led you to a group of officials you could only assume were the West African Ambassador’s party. The ambassador himself was first to acknowledge the two of you.

“Ah Mr. Senator Kim! What a pleasure it is to meet you again, and under much, better, circumstances. I do apologize for the actions of my guards, their aim is just terrible. And who might this lovely young lady on your arm be?” The ambassador spoke, shaking Doyoungs hand and then yours. But the one thing that caught your attention was the stress the Ambassador put on the word ‘better’ and then his mention of his guards’ terrible aim. Did they shoot at Doyoung? Why would a Senator of Korea be shot at by a West African guard? Is there something Doyoung isn’t telling you about?

“This is my fiance, Ms. Y/L/N. I do apologize for the lack of mentions about her, you see not even my staff knew about her until this morning.” Doyoung’s words were short and almost crude, his tone overly nice. It was obvious he didn’t like this man.

“Not a worry Mr. Kim. She’s lovely. You’re a lucky man. My daughter was too shy to come anyways. She’ll be heartbroken, but one can only do so much in the way of a fiance, yeah?” You had a hard time making sense of his words, half due to his heavy accent and half due to the fact that you couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of Doyoung being shot at.

“I do appreciate the understanding, Ambassador. Now, do you have it?” Doyoung asked, eyeing you as if you were listening in on a conversation you shouldn’t be hearing. You were just thoroughly confused about everything happening. Doyoung could’ve been shot and now he’s cryptically asking for something? There’s definitely more to this Senator than meets the eye. 

“Only if you have what I asked for, Mr Kim.” The Ambassador responded, signalling to someone in his party to do something, because the minute the Ambassador’s hand moved, the man nodded and left as if he was on a mission.

“You should find that it’s exactly where you need it. We’re very thankful for this, Ambassador. Should you ever need help in the future, don’t hesitate to ask.” Doyoung shook the Ambassadors hand one more time before returning his arm to your waist, pulling you closer into his side. You were now clueless as to who this “we” was that Doyoung mentioned. Did it have to do with the brother-of-sorts he mentioned earlier? One of the Ambassador’s other men leaned over and whispered something to him, making the Ambassador smile.

“You are all set Mr. Kim. Thank you for the generosity. We will definitely be in contact should we ever need help.” With that, Doyoung smiled and turned on his heels towards the door. You wanted to ask Doyoung so many questions but before you could he pulled out his phone and opened a news app.

“Looks like you won this bet, Ms. Y/L/N. I do look forward to our future together,” Doyoung said as he shoved the phone screen in your face. You had to hold his shaky wrist to stabilize the words enough to read the latest headline “Kim Dongyoung, Korea’s Most Eligible Bachelor, Stolen by Mysterious New Woman.

[lefaystrent]

Nursing Home au

Patton works at the nursing home as a registered nurse, because the man truly cares for people.

He oversees the activities of the rest of the nursing staff, and he’s always keeping them in high spirits.

There’s a vacancy for a nursing aide. Who could possibly fill that position?

It’s Virgil.

At first, Patton honestly doesn’t think Virgil should have been hired there.

Patton had seen Virgil during the hiring process, and his personality didn’t seem like a … good fit. Too closed-off and kinda gruff, and probably not a good bedside manner, right?

Plus there was that criminal record to consider …

But the nursing home administrator hires him anyway, and Virgil joins the staff.

Patton keeps a close eye on Virgil.

Yes he feels guilty, but even Patton isn’t free from prejudices.

Virgil goes about his work very meticulously.

He arrives five minutes early every day, without fail.

He never complains about the tasks he’s been given, just quietly accepts them in a way that makes Patton and the others wonder what he’s really thinking.

He doesn’t talk casually with the other staff much, giving short answers whenever prompted.

Patton worries about the staff’s morale as a team.

Surprisingly, he starts hearing a lot of praise about Virgil. Not from the other staff members, but from the patients themselves.

One of them, a man named Roman, sounds like he’s complaining about him.

“And then he started criticizing my favorite movies!”

“I’m so sorry sir, I’ll talk to him about that.”

“What are you talking about? Kid had some good points. I like him.”

Patton starts subtly bringing up Virgil in conversations while visiting with the patients. For some, he doesn’t even have to warm up to the subject. They stop him in the hallway.

“Patton hun, you know that new boy with the eye-makeup?”

“Yes ma’am, that would be Virgil.”

“He’s so sweet. He helped me with my phone, it’s one of those smart ones? It wasn’t working right, and he fixed it. He’s a smart boy.”

The biggest sign is when one patient—Logan Crofters, who’s a notorious nitpicker—actually voices his approval of Virgil.

“He’s not an idiot,” is all Logan says on the matter, which coming from him, it’s high praise.

Patton doesn’t really understand yet why the patients have taken such a liking to him, but he endeavors to try harder to see who Virgil really is. Mostly he’s glad that his first impression seems to be wrong.

Virgil, for his part, doesn’t understand why the patients like him either.

He just knows that they do.

One of them goes out of their way to call him over to ask for his opinion on what color scarf to knit for their granddaughter.

Another one makes a point to introduce him to their visiting family.

Lots of them seem to like to talk his ear off in general and give him life advice.

Virgil doesn’t really mind it. He’s not used to people wanting to talk to him so much, and to be honest he could use some of the advice.

And the stories they have to share are kinda wild.

He likes bantering with the one old dude, Roman.

“I’ll have you know I’ve killed many a dragon witch in my day.”

“Was this before or after you went senile?”

“Brat.”

“Old fart.”

And then there’s Logan, the elderly man in a wheelchair. He’s probably the smartest man Virgil has ever talked to.

“You’d be surprised how many people assume I’m stupid.”

“You’re in a wheelchair, not braindead dude.”

“Yes, but I am old and crippled, and many people cannot separate physical inadequacy from mentality.”

“Well most people are idiots.”

Logan shows off his dentures in a rare grin.

After those two, there’s Remus.

Even the other staff members warn Virgil in advance about him.

It takes Virgil a month into working there to realize that he’s Roman’s brother.

It really should have been obvious.

“Virgil, where would you bury a body?”

“Why bury it when you can just burn it? Or feed it to some pigs; they’ll eat anything.”

“… oh, I like you.”

Okay, not so obvious, because Remus is a crazy old coot. But he’s got a lot of ideas and grand stories like Roman, only darker themed.

Virgil is convinced Remus is fucking with him to get a reaction out of him.

“He only says all that to get a rise out of you,” Logan confirms.

Challenge accepted.

Virgil continues being a bomb ass nurse.

He’s always super self conscious around his superior, Patton.

He knows Patton is wary of him and Virgil is terrified of messing up in front of him.

Or messing up in general. Poor babe really is too hard on himself.

Even the patients worry about him from time to time.

“You getting enough sleep at night, son? Ya got bags under your eyes!”

“That’s makeup, sir. You know that’s my makeup.”

“Hahaha, but it was funny, right? But seriously, are you sleeping enough?”

And Virgil can’t count how many times they’ve thrown food at him.

“You’re too skinny. You need to eat more.”

“I already eat a lot. I’ve got a high metabolism.”

“Is that one of those social media sites?”

“Roman, if you don’t stop acting stupid—”

“Kidding! I have an Instagram after all. Which you should totally follow me, by the way.”

It’s like suddenly being adopted and Virgil is now the grandson to many old folk.

He’s not even surprised when someone tries to set him up with one of their grandchildren.

What does surprise him is that it’s Logan.

“You should meet my grandson, Remy. Judging from what I’ve observed of your personality, you two would be compatible.”

“Huh, that’s funny, Roman’s got a grandson named Remy too.”

“Yes, Remy is both our grandson.”

“Wait, what?”

“We used to be married, Roman and I. Didn’t you know he was my ex-husband?”

Somehow Virgil has missed that.

But he is so going to grill them for details, because Roman with Logan?

Roman jumps on board when Virgil brings it up.

“Yes! Remy! You would be perfect for him! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it first!”

Virgil laughs it off because they can’t be serious.

Of course, they’re very serious.

Virgil is doing his rounds when he walks into Roman’s room and a guy not too far off from his own age standing there in a leather jacket and shades.

“Oh, you are cute,” the guy says in a way that lets Virgil know that he’s clearly heard about Virgil before.

Roman is exceedingly proud.

Virgil officially meets Remy, the grandson.

It’s awkward.

By the end of it, Virgil apparently has a date after work that he swears he doesn’t remember agreeing to.

Remy’s waiting for him in the lobby.

“You ready for the night of your life, babe?”

“…”

“Wait, you’re walking the opposite direction. Come back.”

Virgil goes out to eat with Remy.

Remy actually apologizes for his grandfathers.

“They’re cool old gay dudes, but they can be really pushy. They’ve been complaining about me being single for like yeaaars. Um, maybe I like being single?”

“Do you?”

“Okay, a bitch is lonely, but gurl, I can find a man or whoever on my own, amirite?”

“Why’d you agree to this then?”

“’Cause you really are cute and seem cool. Plus can we just talk about your aesthetic for a sec? What products do you use on your hair? The purple dye is perf.”

It’s not really a date.

But Virgil might have made a friend out of it, at least.

Virgil finds himself talking about it the next day with Patton.

It just sort of happens.

“They set me up with their grandson.”

“Oh Remy? You’ve met him?”

“Yeah…”

“Well? How’d it go?”

“Uh … I’m not sure? Like, I’m pretty sure we established it wasn’t really a date. But I think we might …”

“Might what?”

“Be … friends?”

“That’s nice, Virgil,” Patton says in a way that Virgil can tell he means it.

Virgil shrugs. “Yeah, I don’t know what I’m gonna tell his granddads though. Their gonna jump on me as soon as they see me. God old people love to gossip more than teenagers.”

“Just try to let them down easy, okay? They really adore Remy and just want him to be happy.”

It’s the first conversation Virgil has with him that doesn’t make him nervous.

The days go by and Virgil is starting to feel like he’s really settling in.

He still doesn’t understand why the patients like him so much.

Not until Patton finally sheds some insight.

It’s a busy enough day, and then Remus has one of his episodes.

He’s screaming and the other staff members who are more experienced with dealing with him are trying to settle him down.

Virgil hears the commotion from down the hall and comes running into the day room where all the patients gather and visit or watch tv.

“He gets like this sometimes,” Logan tells him. Roman sits silently beside him holding his hand, lips pressed in a thin white line and eyes not looking away from the chaotic scene.

Remus is throwing things at the nurses, yelling something about how the lights are trying to eat him.

“It’s best to stay back, Virgil,” Logan tells him.

Virgil doesn’t listen.

He goes and turns off the lights.

There’s still enough sunlight filtering in through the windows, enough to see. But everyone looks around.

Virgil pushes through the other staff.

He nudges Patton aside who had been attempting to console him.

Patton wants to pull him back. Remus is in a vulnerable state of mind right now and it could be bad for either of them.

But Virgil leans in and starts talking in a low voice to Remus.

And … it’s working.

Remus’s screams taper off.

He doesn’t look any less confused or scared. Just subdued.

“I want to go,” he says, eyes looking through everyone there. “Want to go back to my room now. Want to go back.”

“Okay, we can go, Remus. Let’s go,” Virgil says and guides him out.

It’s a slow process, but they make it to his room, Patton hovering close the entire way.

They give Remus a mild sedative to help him relax.

When Virgil walks out of the room, Roman is standing there.

He doesn’t say anything to Virgil, but he claps a hand on his shoulder.

There’s gratitude glistening in his eyes.

Roman goes into the room.

Virgil leaves for the break room. He’s definitely earned a break.

Plus his hands are kind of shaking, but shhhhh, don’t tell anyone.

After a long time, Patton comes into the room.

He sits at the table with Virgil.

“He’ll be fine,” Patton assures him.

“I didn’t say I was worried for him.”

Patton smiles and shakes his head.

“They all love you, you know?” he surprises Virgil by saying. “The patients. You do a lot of good by them.”

Virgil shrugs. “I don’t see why. I’m just me. Just doing my job. Nothing special.”

“You treat them like people.”

Patton leans closer over the table. Virgil doesn’t look away.

“You listen to them. And you talk to them, like they’re people. And for them, these people who have lost a lot of their independence and are often left forgotten here by even their own families—that’s worth a lot.”

Virgil doesn’t know if he believes all that.

But it’s a nice thought.

[allegra-writes]

Happy birthday, Peter

Peter Parker x Reader

General audiences

Warnings: None

Ok, this isn't a request but today is August the tenth, MCU Peter Parker's canon birthday, so let's have a little birthday Fluff to celebrate! 💜

MY MASTERLIST

“Tony, Fury's here about that new guy he wants you to meet for the new team, Quentin Beck” Pepper's voice interrupted Tony’s obvious staring.

“No-uh, forget it, not happening. I just got out of the hospital a couple weeks ago, after I almost died saving the world from that giant purple raisin. Again. Now this? This is a party. Peter’s party, I refuse to work today” Tony was not having any of that tonight of all nights. He had five years worth of birthdays and holidays to catch up on with his kids, kids he thought he wouldn’t have the opportunity to ever hug or talk or plan parties for, he might add. So Fury could get lost for all he cared.

Besides, he had his own ideas for his super secret boy band 2.0, and he was looking straight at them.

“Now, Miss Potts, if you would be so kind as to come right here and tell me what you think about this” He stepped closer to his wife and gestured at the group of teenagers laughing and chatting on the other side of the room. If he was honest with himself, he had been so nervous about the four of them meeting: What if they didn’t like each other? That would not make his plans impossible but it would certainly put a damper on them. The truth was he should have been nervous about you guys getting along a little too well …

Pepper took a look and immediately paled.

“Oh no, no no no! Tony, no!”

Unbeknownst of the argument ensuing about you, Harley Keener, Cassie Lang, Peter Parker and you continued to laugh at Ned Leeds retelling of the time Spider-Man stole his “arch nemesis”, Flash Thompson's car.

“… Of course now Mister Stark gave you a car of your own, I guess Spider-Man won’t need to ask Flash for his car again”

Peter shook his head,

“I still say I can’t accept it, I’m sorry, y/n, it’s just too much”

“What are you talking about? It’s not even a new car, Happy’s been driving it for years” You said, “Besides, I’m going to need someone to drive me around, you know I hate to do it myself…”

“Is that your way of saying you failed your driving test again?” Harley quipped, casually resting his arm around Cassie’s shoulders. The look the petit brunette gave him had him quickly remove it, however.

“Shut up Keener!” You huffed, “Who needs to drive when you can fly, anyway”

“What else did you get, Peter?” Cassie asked, genuinely interested.

“You mean besides the car and the scholarship?”

“Ooh, my present! You haven’t opened my present yet!” you exclaimed excitedly, placing a closed envelope on Peter’s hands.

“Y/n, you really shouldn’t…” He tried to protest.

“Come on, just open it!”

“Open it! Open it! Open it!” Cassie, Ned and Harley started chanting. Peter tore the paper apart to revel the single, golden ticket inside that simply read in big black letters “Valid for one birthday wish”

“It’ a…”

“It’s a birthday wish coupon” You explained, “Limited time offer, for tonight only. Whatever you want, no consequences, no questions asked. Anything money can buy, and then some. Want to steal a plane and fly to Europe, Have a body you need to hide? I’m your man… well, girl, but you know what I-“

“YOU WANT OUR KIDS TO WHAT?” Scott Lang's voice Echoed through the lake house living room, where the intimate party was taking place, interrupting you.

“I know it seems insane, but so did time travel…” Your dad was trying to explain, with apparently little success, if Scott’s face increasingly redder color was anything to go by. The vein visible on his neck wasn’t looking like a good omen either.

“Think we should go break them apart?” Cassie asked calmly, with the same air of infinite patience laced with resignation that you usually wore around your father yourself.

“Lets go before they break something” You sighed and followed her to the other side of the room, without noticing you were leaving a stunned Peter behind.

“You know what you should use that coupon for, right?” Harley’s voice broke through his daze.

“Whu- what?”

Harley rolled his eyes.

“Come on, dude! No consequences? No questions asked? You should ask her for a kiss!”

“What? No! We’re not… I’m not- we are not like that!”

Harley and Ned exchanged a look.

“I never thought I would agree with this guy, but Harley’s right. Peter, this is your chance!”

“Peter, look” The blond grabbed Peter’s shoulders, “She said it herself, no consequences, she promised. So even if she’s not into you like that, and trust me, she is, you know she’ll still be your friend.”

“Come on, dude, you were thinking the exact same thing! Besides,” Ned finished, “I’m your guy in the chair, I wouldn’t tell you to do it if it was a bad idea”

Peter could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment, and his eyes with unshed tears of frustration.

“You guys have no idea what you are talking about” He mumbled bitterly, and left.

He just needed to get away, he just needed some air to help him get himself under control again. His friends meant well, he knew it wasn’t their fault. He was the one that never told them, after all. That you guys had already kissed once, right under the illuminated Eiffel tower, the night of the airport fight, a lifetime ago, or at least that’s what it felt like.

And it had been so. Fucking. Perfect. He could still almost taste you on his lips. He had obsessed over that kiss. He had lost sleep, and hunger over that kiss. For weeks. But as soon as you guys had return to New York, it was radio silence. For almost three months he hadn’t heard from you. And when you guys finally started talking again… nothing. Not a single word about it.

Until now, because you had just mentioned it. Indirectly, but you did. That little comment about stealing a plane hadn’t been random: That’s how you guys had gotten to France from Germany that time. You had stolen your father’s self flown jet and took it for a ride with Peter, and that’s where you had ended up, insisting that the real crime would be to take Peter to Europe and not showing him Paris.

It had been a full moon night, just like this one. There hadn’t been that many stars in the sky, because of the city lights, of course. But this, right then, standing at that secluded lake shore, with billions of stars lighting up the night sky, it almost felt like being underneath the tower lights again.

The soft sound of your bare feet on the grass pulled him out of his thoughts. He knew it was you, he always knew. He could tell your heartbeat apart from a crowded room. Hell, from a crowded city. He totally got your father’s favorite nickname for you.

“Hey! Everyone's looking for you,” You said, coming to a stop beside him, toes barely touching the warm water, a welcomed relief on that hot summer night. “It’s almost time to cut the cake”

“If I did wanted to steal a plane tonight, would you really do it?” He asked ignoring your comment. You simply shrugged,

“Where would we go?”

“Paris”, He replied without missing a beat. And you prayed he and his super senses couldn’t hear the way your heart picked up it’s pace with that single word. But of course he did.

He turned around to face you, his mind made up between one of your heartbeats and the next.

“What you said back inside, about no consequences, no questions asked” He inquired, “Did you mean it?”

He took a step towards you, so close now that your chests were almost touching. You wondered if he knew what it did to you having him so close, how you couldn’t think, couldn’t breath. How every inch of your skin stood to attention, ready to be electrified by the slightest touch with his.

You looked up into his eyes, taking a detour at his lips, so close to your own.

“Yes” the breathless whisper was barely audible for your normal human ears, but of course he heard you clearly. He took a final step closer.

“Close your eyes” He repeated your own words from that night at the tower back at you. You didn’t even try to resist his order. You felt him place a finger under your chin, softy tilting your head up for better access, and then the most delicate, exquisite pressure of his lips on yours.

It was too much. It was not enough. You nibbled on his bottom lip, trying to get him to deepen the kiss, and he complied, the little growl that escaped his throat at the first taste of your tongue was by far the sexiest thing you had ever heard in your life. He quickly took control of the kiss, carefully cupping your face with one hand, the other fisting the silk of your dress at your waist, pulling you closer. He almost lost all semblance of self-restraint at the way your body melted into his. You couldn’t do more than submit to his assault on your lips, than submit to him.

“Wow. Is anyone timing this? I'd swear they should've had to come out for air by now” One of the three figures watching the scene unfold from behind the glass windows of the lake house asked, confused. "They'll pass out from lack of oxygen!"

“Peter won’t pass out,” decided Harley, “superhuman and all that…”

“She can pass out”

Cassie snorted,

“I’m sure he can give her some mouth to mouth”

“You mean more than he’s already giving her?” it was Harley’s turn to snort.

Ned turned away from the window.

“So,” He began, a little dumb struck, “that happened.”

“Is still happening” corrected Harley, cheekily. Ned ignored him,

“You think they’ll finally get together now?” he asked.

“No way,” Harley scoffed.

“Yeah, those two have been pining for each other for so long, I don’t think they know how to function without it” Cassie sentenced, eyes still on the lake outside.

Ned sighed,

“You’re probably right. Tomorrow they’ll most likely be back to their stumbling, blushing selves. I swear, they are going to be getting married and still be like “Do you think she likes me? Like, like like me?”” He pitched his voice higher in a remarkably good impression of his best friend that had his new ones cracking with laughter.

“Hey, kids!” Tony Stark came up to them, frowning “Have you seen Peter and my daughter? It’s almost time for the cake… What are you looking at?”

The three teens jumped away from the window at once,

“NOTHING!!”

The End.

[arvandus]

Always Come Home

So, I decided to write this quick Izuku X Reader snippet before bed and ended up staying up way later than I intended.  Oh well! I’m a sucker for dramatic first kisses, so maybe I’ll make this a series of one-shots with a variety of BNHA characters. Anyway, let me know what you think, thanks for reading!

WARNINGS: Fluff.  Like, really sappy fluff.  With slight angst.

Pairing: Izuku Midoriya X reader

 You stormed into the hospital, the sound of your shoes echoing off of the white walls like a hammer striking an anvil.  Your feet took you straight to the front desk while your head swam with a rush of feelings. Worry.  Anger.  Fear…

“Midoriya, Izuku.” You stated to the receptionist who eyed you like a deer in headlights.  Your words weren’t a question, but an order. You were going to see Midoriya, and when you did you were going to kick his ass.

“Room 531, 5th floor.” The receptionist replied.  You gave a curt thanks, not wanting to scar the woman with your off-putting demeanor. After all, it wasn’t her fault that Izuku managed to get himself hospitalized from a villain fight, again.  It seems to be his favorite MO.  You’d think knowing him as long and as well as you have would numb you to his antics, but the pounding in your chest told you otherwise.

You pressed the button for the elevator, your arms crossed in front of your chest to keep you from fidgeting. You watched as the red numbers slowly changed from high to low, and you contemplated taking the stairs.  You got the mental picture of storming into Izuku’s room sweaty and panting and decided against it.  You didn’t want to look desperate…

Really, you didn’t want to look like you cared too much.  Because the truth of it was, you did.  It wasn’t always that way, of course.  You had started out just friends.  But Izuku had a way of getting into the hearts of people, disarming even the most stoic or the most difficult of personalities with his kind, outgoing, yet incredibly brash demeanor.  Your heart got it the worst.  His smiling face occupied your thoughts far more than you’d like to admit to yourself, let alone anyone else.

The elevator doors finally opened up for you, and you entered, eagerly pressing the right button. The elevator was empty, thankfully… it gave you a moment to compose yourself, to wipe your hand across your face and lean your head back against the cool metal to help still your racing heart.

Little good that did you. When the doors opened, you felt your pulse quicken again as you left the elevator.  As you approached Izuku’s room, your steps began to falter until you paused outside his open door.  Light from his room spilled out into the hallway, overpowering the pale fluorescent lighting that flickered from the ceiling above.  You took a deep breath and forced yourself to enter the room, a smile in place.

Your breath hitched in your throat, forming an unwelcome lump that you struggled to swallow.

Izuku was awake, thankfully, but the majority of his body was wrapped in bandages.  His head was wrapped, his eye purple and swollen, and his lip sported a cut colored in dried blood.  Still, despite his sorry state, he noticed you as soon as you walked in, and greeted you with a big smile.

“Hey!” he exclaimed.  “You didn’t have to come visit me.”

His enthusiasm snapped you out of your shock, and you scoffed at him.  “Of course, I did.  Every time I visit you, you get better.” You teased.  You gave him a very obvious once-over as you took the chair next his bed.  “Trust me, it looks like you need it.”

His warm laugh scattered your dark swirling emotions, drawing a true smile on your face at his mirth. “Well, I guess you’re right.  It’s really not that bad, though…”  his body betrayed him as he winced in pain, his hand instinctively clutching his bandaged side.  The dark cloud around you that he had scared away a moment before returned in full force.

He always did this.  He always downplayed how bad it was, how close he got to losing.  You bit your cheek to tame your words.  “It looks pretty bad to me…” you replied softly.

His laughter went quiet as his green eyes stared into yours in a way that made you want to hide.  You mentally kicked yourself for being a little too honest, for letting your emotions sneak out with your words.  “Y/N…” he said softly.  “Are… you okay?”

“I’m fine.” You replied, but the words came out rushed, too fast to be convincing.

“You’re not fine.” He stated.

No, no, no. This wasn’t supposed to be happening this way.  You came here to check on him, to see if there was anything he needed.  Joke, tease, and maintain the status quo.  He was supposed to focus on himself, on healing and getting better.  Instead, he was worrying about you, and in typical Izuku fashion, he wanted access to your heart so he could help you fix whatever was broken.  He was like a blood hound that caught a scent and wouldn’t let up.

“I’m fine.” You struggled to be more convincing, offering him a smile, but your eyes couldn’t meet his.  He was unraveling you like a loose thread and you could feel yourself slowly becoming undone.

“You’re not.” He insisted.  “What’s wrong?  You’ve never acted like this before.” he asked, his voice more desperate.  His hand reached out to you, but you stood up from your chair, putting distance between you.

“Why are you pushing this, Izuku?” you replied, your composure finally lost.

“Because I want to help you!” Izuku replied, his brow furrowed in confusion, and rightfully so. You’d never kept secrets from him (at least ones that didn’t involve him).  You’d always had a very open friendship, filled with long mutual heart-felt discussions.   And you’d never, never been mad at him before.  “Was it something I said?” the worry laced in his words was palpable and cut you to the core.  You didn’t want to hurt him.

You walked over towards the window and leaned against the windowsill, staring outside at the people walking the courtyard below.  Your brain didn’t register what you were looking at, though.  It was too busy trying to juggle jumbled feelings and broken words into something cohesive and honest.

“I hate seeing you like this.” You finally replied, keeping your eyes trained outside.

“Is that what this is about?” Izuku asked, his voice at ease again.  “I’m okay, Y/N.  It doesn’t even hurt that much.  You shouldn’t worry about me.”

A frustrated groan escaped your lips and you spun on him, your eyes glistening with tears.  “That’s just it, Izuku.  I do worry about you.  I worry about you all the time, and it hurts me.  It hurts me to see you hurt like this.”

“Y/N…” he breathed your name, and it brushed across your soul like a cool spring breeze across the tender petals of a flower.  Your breath hitched in your throat.

 “Don’t.” you croaked, your voicing cracking with emotion.  “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

You gestured at his overall presence, “That.  You. I don’t know!”  You wiped your hands over your face in frustration.  “You make everything so hard.  You’re kind, and gentle, and sweet, and you’re always there for me and I can’t imagine my life without you.  But then you run off, always rushing into danger, and you’re never careful with yourself.  I know you’re a hero and it comes with the job, but you do it so recklessly. I know it’s because you care, because you’ll do whatever it takes to win and save people.  But I’m afraid...I’m afraid that one of these days you… you won’t come back.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to speak anymore, the lump in your throat blocking your words, as you tried to sniff at your suddenly running nose.  God, you probably looked terrible right now.  You turned your back on him quickly, struggling to hold onto some of your remaining dignity.  You knew you had probably said too much, and what’s worse, you probably sounded selfish, as if your feelings for him were more important than protecting innocent lives. You could feel a sinking into your gut that settled into nausea.  He was probably questioning everything, now.  Your friendship, how he accidentally let you get attached, or worse, questioning you as a person.  The thought was unbearable.

You heard the shuffle of the bed covers being moved and the creak of the hospital bed as he sat up. You spun around and looked at him with incredulity.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing??” you demanded.  “Stay in bed, you idiot!”

But he ignored you, and you could see from the set of his jaw that his stubborn side was activated. Izuku was a sweet guy, but he was no pushover.  He closed the gap between you in a few easy strides and before you could protest, he wrapped his arms around you.  You couldn’t push him away – you didn’t want to hurt him, after all.  You could feel his strong arms around you, their bandages scratching your skin, the warmth of his chest pressed against your face as you could hear his strong, very much alive, heartbeat.  Shock flooded your system, washing away negativity and filling it with confusion and warmth.  Silent tears fell from your eyes, then more and more and they wouldn’t stop, and all you could do was wrap your arms around him.

His voice whispered softly next to your ear, “I’m sorry, Y/N.  I didn’t know.”

“I can’t lose you.” You whispered back, and you felt his arms tighten around you in response.

“You won’t.” Izuku replied, his voice soft.  He pulled away just enough to look at you.  You stared at his now tear-stained hospital gown in embarrassment.  You had thought that would be it; one friend comforting another.  But then his calloused finger touched your chin, tilting your head up until you looked him in the eyes.

Green eyes, shining with emotions of his own, met yours.  You felt exposed, seen.  You could tell in how he looked at you that he understood everything.

Everything.

Then his lips met yours, stealing your breath with their softness despite the cut on them.  Your heart pounded at his boldness and you returned the kiss with your arms around his neck and your fingers in his thick, soft hair. It was a perfect moment, frozen in time, when all of your feelings you’d kept silent in a dark hidden box were released into warm sunlight, blossoming and filling you with a fullness you had only dared to imagine up until now.  Happiness, excitement, relief, freedom.

Finally, the moment was over as Izuku pulled away slightly to look at your flushed face.  The finger that had tilted your chin now brushed gently across your jawline as he smiled at you.

“I’ll always come back to you, Y/N.” He whispered the words, as if they were a secret only for you. You smiled and leaned into his touch.

With a mischievous smirk, you booped him gently on the nose with your forefinger.  “You’d better.”

[daisy-loves-sh]

Gay subtext in Lady Blue

Starsky & Hutch: Lady Blue

Season 1, Ep 10

Okay, can we talk about the fact that Hutch appears to be romancing Starsky in this ep where Starsky is mourning his dead ex-girlfriend?

I swear I’m not making this up.

As evidence, I present these two scenes:

1) The guys are in the morgue hallway and Starsky is feeling down. Hutch offers him coffee but Starsky waves it away. Then Hutch puts his hand over Starsky’s hand and says “Oh, Starsk” in THAT way. Starsky replies, “It’s alright” and puts his hand over Hutch’s. And then it looks like PMG starts to laugh just before the scene cuts, but I digress.

2) The tag. You know, the one where Hutch lights candles and cooks Starsky’s favorite meal that he got from his mother-in-law Starsky’s mom. CANDLES!

Now, an episode in which Starsky is mourning his dead ex-girlfriend doesn’t exactly seem like the best time for Hutch to try to seduce him, but that seems to be exactly what Hutch is doing. And it IS a good way to hide the gay subtext, because who would suspect it in this ep?

Now, you could argue that the hand-holding and “Oh, Starsk” is just Hutch being really supportive and that he has no romantic feelings whatsoever. Sure, that could be. The scene is totally gay, though, if I can be honest.

But if we put the lovey-dovey morgue scene together with the tag (or even just the tag by itself), you can most definitely see that Hutch is trying to romance his partner.

Let’s dissect the lovely tag, shall we?

Hutch has called Starsky’s mom to get his favorite recipe, cooks it and invites Starsky over for dinner, tries to get Starsky to look at the sunset (for which Starsky has zero interest), and sets a romantic candlelit table. Totally not gay, right? (I’m being sarcastic, btw, it’s totally gay). And he doesn’t just light some candles that are already on the table. He brings them over from near the window where he’s watching the sunset and then lights them.

But when Starsky inquires about the candles by asking “Who are the candles for? Expecting someone?,” Hutch answers “Yeah, that’s why we’re eating early,” while totally avoiding looking at his partner and trying to act nonchalant.

Starsky, for his part, seems disappointed by this (but in a non-romantic way, I think) and asks “What time am I leaving?” to which Hutch deflects by lifting the cover on the Paul Muni special. So he never answers the question. Because Starsky isn’t going to be leaving early.

Also, this is going slightly off-topic, but I have the same exact speckled-black roasting pan as Hutch. I find this very exciting because I have been a Hutch girl since I was a kid, and I’m not the one who bought the roasting pan, my hubby did.

Now, you might be thinking, what’s gay about Hutch having a girl over later and serving an early dinner to Starsky? And apparently he really WAS serving it early or Starsky would have pointed out that it wasn’t early. And the sun is just setting, although we don’t know what time of year it’s supposed to be. But the ep aired in mid-November and sunset in Los Angeles Bay City would have been around 4:45pm, so that IS pretty early to eat dinner.

So does that mean there really was a girl coming over later for a booty call with Hutch? NO! IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT! It means that Hutch was embarrassed that Starsky didn’t pick up on his cues and so he made up the story about the girl. Because why the F would Hutch be lighting candles during his dinner with Starsky if he was planning on having a romantic time with a girl LATER THAT EVENING? The candles would be burned out by then and I doubt he was planning on having a second dinner with this fictional girlfriend or that he and the girl would be anywhere near the kitchen table. The candles are totally for Starsky.

Confused? Still wondering why Hutch serves dinner early, if there is no girl coming over later?

Did you figure it out yet? No? Then scroll down for the answer…….

…...

……

……

It’s because Hutch wanted Starsky to come over early so they could watch the sunset together.

Think about it. It’s the first thing Hutch mentions at the beginning of the tag. Why would a grown man want another grown man to look at a sunset with him? Do platonic heterosexual men-friends normally do that sort of thing?

No, I’m pretty sure they do not.

And also, Hutch doesn’t just casually mention the sunset in an offhand way. He talks about it for a while, and even mentions how it has the colors of the rainbow: “Blue, gold, red, purple.” As in, the gay rainbow. Now, I know that the rainbow wasn’t used as a symbol of gay pride until 1978, and this ep is from 1975, but still, rainbows were used by marginalized groups in the 70s, including in California, including by the gay community. And there’s the whole Judy Garland “Somewhere over the rainbow” queer icon thing. We had a discussion about this on FB a few months ago.

Regardless, even if the rainbow wasn’t intended as a gay reference, you still have a scene with a man talking about rainbows and sunsets with another man while serving him a romantic candlelit dinner.

So yeah, Hutch totally tries to seduce Starsky but Starsky is clueless. That doesn’t mean that Starsky doesn’t also pine for Hutch in his own way. Maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t. But he’s not in the right mindset in this episode because Did I mention that he’s still mourning the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend? And yes, it’s totally weird and uncomfortable when Hutch mentions Helen in the tag.

But they had to have two levels of what’s going on in this scene so the gay stuff wouldn’t be too obvious.

So we have the surface text (two straight guys who like women having dinner together) and then we have the subtext (all the gay romantic stuff plus the bonus “Starsky is Jewish” Paul Muni reference).

And men who like women can’t possibly be gay or bi, can they?

So the subtext is a man trying to romantically woo his best friend by talking about sunsets and rainbows, cooking him his favorite meal which he got from his friend’s mom, and setting a romantic candlelit table. And making up a story about a girl coming over in order to save face.

So the fans who were not inclined to see the characters in a romantic way would just watch the scene and think it was sweet and shippy, because the guys are such good platonic friends, and not really spend any time thinking about how platonic heterosexual men-friends don’t really do stuff like that.

But the fans who wanted to see the romance between the guys would see it.

And both types of fans would be happy and would argue with each other for the next 45 years about whether S&H were gay or just really really really good friends.

Except maybe for straight males who were just there for the car chases and shootouts and macho stuff. I really have no idea how those fans feel about this tag.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #373

“warm me up in a nova’s glow  /  and drop me down to the dream below”

Have you ever kissed someone that you thought you’d never kiss? Welp, never thought I'd kiss a girl for most of my life. When was the last time you ate take-out and what was it that you ate? Mom bought us breakfast at Bojangle's the morning after my sleep study. I got a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. Do you enjoy when guys hit on/flirt with you or does it normally make you uncomfortable or annoyed? When was the last time more than one guy was flirting with you at a time? It makes me uncomfortable, especially if it's very obvious and pushy. Like some respectful flirting is fine and can be flattering if I'm single, but you better respect my boundaries and not act like a dog. I don't think two guys have both been openly interested in me since Juan and Jason in high school. Can you name five things you enjoy looking at pictures of? Animals, flowers, waterfalls, expressions of love between people, and boudoir. Would you rather have an eternal winter or an eternal summer? Both sound pretty sucky, but an eternal summer sounds worse. Do you know much about the Greek gods? Not anymore. I did in high school, as mythology was an elective I took. Are there a lot of stray cats and dogs near where you live? Not in this neighborhood. How would you cope with living in isolation away from society? How long do you think you could cope before you went mad? Oh god, I couldn't cope. I'd lose my shit so fast. Have you ever found any hidden treasure? No. Would you ever want to hibernate through the winter? No, I enjoy winter. Which holiday do you prefer, Halloween or Christmas? I like the Halloween vibe more, but I enjoy Christmas more as a holiday. Do you prefer hot or cold drinks overall? Cold. What’s the smallest thing you’ve ended a relationship over? I don't believe I've broken up with anyone over something small. Have you or a member of your family been diagnosed with COVID yet? My older sister got it. It was hell. What’s the dominant color in the room you’re in at the moment? An off-white. Do you know who your mom’s favorite singer is? James Hetfield of Metallica. Easy. What room in your house is the messiest? The spare room. Have you ever used a “puppy face” to get your way? Ha, yeeeaaah... If you could change any law that exists in your current country, what would it be and why? Here comes free healthcare. For obvious reasons. What were the last toppings you had on a pizza? Pepperoni. Would you rather spend an hour walking a dog or riding a horse? Riding a horse. Do you freak out when you need to visit the doctor or the dentist? Nah. Do you prefer The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit movies, if you like any of them? I haven't watched either. Which Harry Potter film was your favourite? What about your least favourite? I haven't watched those, either. What do you think about nose piercings? I like them. Nostril studs especially are really cute imo. How many floors does your house have? One. What’s your favorite flavor of Kool-Aid? I don't really like Kool-Aid anymore. Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Yeah, a cyst. Do you enjoy sappy love songs? Unabashedly. Do you wear a one-piece or a two-piece when you go swimming? One-piece. What would be your biggest pet peeve in a relationship? Not communicating your feelings straight-up. Be straightforward and honest with what you're going through with your partner, for the love of God. Have you ever had a teacher hit on you? Have you ever hit on a teacher? No to both. Do you tend to eat more on Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas? Christmas, because of chocolate stocking stuffers and boxes from Dad, haha. Do you know what an "AMV" is? Yeah, I used to make them. Do you think you have a sad life? In some ways, yeah. What’s one award show you have to watch every year? None. Who do you like more: the Batman or the Joker? The Joker, particularly Heath Ledger's. Do you like Rammstein? Love 'em. What is your favorite small dog breed? Aesthetically, I think pugs, but I've said before and I'll say it a thousand more times: I don't support breeding them. What was the first comic book you ever had an obsession over? I've never been obsessed with a comic book. Do you like kids pop-up books? Those were my absolute favorite kind AS a kid. What is your mother's mother's maiden name? Ummm I'm pretty sure Collins. Have you ever pet a monkey? No. What’s your favorite Owl City song… besides "Fireflies?" I actually really like "Hot Air Balloon." What’s your fave Miley Cyrus song? I don't know many, but I do know "The Climb" is absolutely gorgeous. Fave Rascal Flatts song? Probably "My Wish." But I also really like "Why" and "What Hurts the Most." Fave Justin Bieber song? None. Miley Cyrus, Demi Lavato, or Selena Gomez? Jesus, you really like bands that I don't, haha. I don't know any Demi or Selena songs, so idk. Fave Eminem song? Oh man, I do like a lot of Eminem. I know it's so cliche, but I genuinely adore "Love The Way You Lie." It gives me goosebumps. Do you think you could survive a month of solitary confinement? NO. Absolutely not. I would lose my motherfucking mind. What is something that you find utterly boring? Sports, save for dance, are incredibly blah to me. What noise/sound can put you to sleep? Gentle, steady rain tapping on the window. When you are upset, do you tend to shut others out? YYYYYYYYYYYEP. When was the last time you felt abandoned by someone? bleh Does the sight of blood gross you out? No. Do you like red roses, or do you prefer another color? I love red ones, but I really, really like the ones with a pink-peach gradient. Have you ever gone through a red light? I think I MIGHT have accidentally because I was zoned out, but I don't THINK so. Do you fail to stop for stop signs, sometimes? I can't recall if I ever have. What is one of your major turn-offs? Misogyny. The moment you act like you exceed my worth just because you have a dick, byyyyyeeee~ During which year of your life were you the most unhappy? 2016 was hell on Earth for me. Have you ever seen a blue jay in person? I have. Do you like leaves better in the summer/spring, or in the fall? I'd like to meet someone that actually chooses anything besides fall, lol. Do you like the appearance of green eyes? YES! Do you typically like green-colored candies? Yessss. It's not rare for them to be my favorite flavor of whatever the thing is. Who is the most energetic and happy person you know of? My nephew, omg. Have you ever encountered a black widow? I actually have seen at least one to my memory. They're native here. Has an animal ever peed on you? Yes. Do you prefer green or purple/red grapes? I enjoy both, but I prefer green IF they're actually firm. What color is your birthstone? Purple. Why did you leave your house last? To go to the TMS office. I have to go there every day (but the weekends) for two months for treatment now. Is anything on your body sore? Well, inevitably my upper right arm, where my tattoo is. It looks so fucking beautiful redone though, it's all worth it. :') Have you ever eaten a cookie cake before? If so, was it good? Hell yeah man, cookie cakes are great. Do you lose interest in someone easily? I'm quite the opposite. Who was the last person you flirted with? Sara. Do you still talk to the person you fell the hardest for? No. Who’s the last person that slept over your house? My sister and her husband. Have you ever regretted kissing someone? Yes. Are you currently sad about anything? I mean, I always am about something. How would you feel if your last ex fell in love with someone else? I would be super happy for her. Who was the last person who left your life and hurt you? Colleen. Do you know anyone who died of breast cancer? I might know of somebody, but all I know personally are survivors. Do you miss any of your old friends? Well of course. Have you ever been used before? I don't know. Ever taken a picture kissing someone? Yes. What’s the last thing you and your sibling laughed about? I Don't know. I haven't seen either in some time. What’s the last thing you took a picture of? A meme to send Sara, haha. Do you listen to classical music? No. Do you tell your parents who you like? Why or why not? I mean, I don't just randomly bring it up because just being like "hey I like this person _____ now" seems weird. Now if I was asked or mentioning it is somehow relevant, then I will. Who’s the most annoying person in your neighborhood? The damn dog next door who never shuts up. Name one of your psycho exes? None. I was the "psycho ex," and it's embarrassing as shit. Do you make your own clothes and/or add designs to them on your own? No. Do you ever feel guilty eating meat? It's not something I always actively think about, but subconsciously, I absolutely always do. Especially knowing my family doesn't buy from "ethical" markets, but instead big ones. "Ethical" in quotations because there is no moral way to slaughter an animal for food, but at least there are smaller farmers who can give their livestock a better, cleaner, happier life. What are you listening to at the moment? I'm semi-watching Gab play Bioshock. I'd never seen the game before, so just kinda vicariously checking it out. Seems all right. Does anything hurt right now? My tattoo is definitely in the sore phase. It'll start scabbing soon. I literally can't stop looking at it, I love it so much. How many years have you lived at the house you’re living in right now? Around 1 1/2. Have you ever lived in a different country that the one you’re living in? No. Which of your parents will you see next? I live with my mom and rarely see my dad, so. Do you like Chinese food? Only pork fried rice and egg rolls, really. What sort of music were you brought up on? When all of us kids were very little, Mom would usually play her rock channels on the radio, sometimes a (clean) CD. She also would ensure to play kids' cassettes sometimes, too, like Raffy or whoever it was. Once Ashley reached a certain age, she would always ask for a pop channel to be put on, so most of my childhood was that and some country music, too.

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/27/2020: THE CURSE OF CATTOBER pt 3 - THE CORPSE GRINDERS

Ted V. Mikel's notorious sickie THE CORPSE GRINDERS is one of a few movies that has become symbolic of my whole journey with psychotronic cinema. Today, I would understand exactly what kind of movie this is, even if I had not seen this exact item: An exploitation movie in the truest sense, just as infamous for its grossout premise as it is for its extraordinary cheapness, delivering all of the moral turpitude and almost none of the over the top effects promised by its attention-grabbing key art--or its dumbfounding title. But when I was a kid, I seriously wondered about these films; worried about them, even.

I wasn't allowed to watch anything that smacked of bad taste, but I still managed to build up a vivid awareness that there were movies out there about forms of perversion and evil that I could never imagine, made by freaks of the highest order. I would hunch nervously over the horror rack at our local mom & pop video mart, earning me the nickname Igor from the amused heshers behind the register, while my parents went through the motions of renting me LABYRINTH for a eight zillionth time. I was allowed to buy exactly one copy of Fangoria (the December 1990 issue featuring LEATHERFACE) before my mother reneged on this gesture of tolerance, but I was allowed to read most anything I wanted--my intellectual hippie folks wouldn't dream of censuring the written word--and I spent many hours, nay years, poring over the Re/Search book of Incredibly Strange Films. This helped create a kind of cinema of the mind for me, in which I tried my best to realize what the movies discussed in the book could possibly be like in real life. The book's detailed descriptions of pictures like SPIDER BABY, THE WIZARD OF GORE, SHE-FREAK, THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS, etc  were stimulating in some ways, and only added to my confusion in others. Without seeing them up close, it was hard to make sense of their combination of laughable cheapness, unfunny comedy, and genuinely sickening crimes against human dignity. What these movies are like, is something you can only find out for yourself.

Having said all that, I'm still going to try to tell you what THE CORPSE GRINDERS is like. We open on the rainswept grounds of the Farewell Acres cemetery, where a jerky-addicted ogre called Caleb (Warren Ball) is extracting freshly interred bodies from the earth, as a gaggle of geese honk savagely from being a wire fence. Caleb's dotty wife Cleo (Ann Noble) argues with Caleb for not-the-last time about how his jerky habit is going to ruin his appetite for the dinner she slops out for her filthy baby doll instead, while Caleb bitches about not being paid by a Mr. Landau for his latest job. What's the job, you ask? Selling corpses to the Lotus Cat Food company, where Landau (Sanford Mitchell) has discovered that human flesh is the secret to his success, having kinda-accidentally fed a difficult shareholder into his cat food grinder. It's hard to say exactly how this has led to such a windfall for Landau, especially since he has to produce the illicit pet food one corpse at a time with his neurotic assistant Maltby (J. Byron Foster, my favorite guy in the movie). I guess I've just never dealt with a cat whose specific addiction is so obvious, so oppressive, even, that it forces me to buy the most expensive cat food on the market. This is what is happening to customers whose cats have fallen under the spell of Lotus, and they pay for it with their very lives because Lotus has given their pets a taste for long pig. Landau struggles to find more sources for his secret ingredient, including a mob hitman, giggly morticians who load the bodies up with "pork-flavored fluid (instead of) formaldehyde", and his own employees--"The world is full of ingredients!" he declares, hopefully. Meanwhile, Doctors Howard Glass (Sean Kenney) and Angie Robinson (Monika Kelly) decide to investigate the recent rash of cat attacks; it's hard to imagine how they're going to get to the bottom of anything, amid many makeout breaks and random changes of clothes, but somebody has to stop all these house cats from devouring the rest of Los Angeles, and it might as well be them.

So that's the plot, but THE CORPSE GRINDERS is still a lot weirder than what I've described. You could be forgiven for wondering whether the movie is supposed to take place in Andy Milligan's version of 19th century London, with Cleo's bizarre insistence on a cockney accent, and Caleb's grumbling about finances involving "pounds" (actually pounds of flesh) in their ramshackle dwelling on the edge of a cardboard-and-styrofoam cemetery. A further Dickensian touch is provided by Landau's one-legged deaf-mute assistant Tessie (Drucilla Hoy), who limps around glumly in a sailor dress and Little Orphan Annie fright wig. If she could talk, she would probably sound like the widow Babcock (Zena Foster), whose husband was the first to go into the grinder, and who speaks in a twittering falsetto that would sound more natural coming out of a sock puppet. All of these community theater touches contrast jarringly with the movie's exploitation nature, which revels in scenes of hardboiled scumbags shaking each other down, of women taking their clothes off for literally no reason at all, and in the suggestion that the gloopy pink paste extruding out of the cat food grinder was once a beautiful girl or a rotting cadaver. The grinder itself is a sight to behold, reminding me at once of something from SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, and the Wish Squisher invention from the MST3K episode of SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. The metallic gizmos whirring along its façade glint in the fabulous gelled lights over the production line, optimistically evoking the rich purples and greens of a Mario Bava picture; in a movie that's explicitly about money woes, in a subgenre that's specifically known for its cheapness, it's nice that director Mikels shelled out to add a little extra style to the grinding scenes.

And on that note, I would like to propose, without having much to say about it yet, that some exploitation films are allegories for exploitation filmmaking itself. I don't include all genre movies about money in this category: it's easy to identify many thrillers as being about more general economic conditions that affect us all, including a lot of noir entries. But then there are movies like THE CORPSE GRINDERS, or LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, or COLOR ME BLOOD RED (or its predecessor A BUCKET OF BLOOD), in which the main character tries to solve his financial woes by committing an utterly dehumanizing crime. In these three examples, there is the revelation that honest work doesn't pay, and that money is only gained through the individual's willingness to exploit sensational imagery and/or decadent sensations to tease, titillate, and even addict the customer. It's hard not to see Landau, Seymour, and Adam Sorg as avatars for Ted Mikels, Roger Corman, and Herschell Gordon Lewis, in their similar quests to prey on the craven appetites of the public, at a minimum cost for a maximum payout. If you have other movies you'd like to add to my list, please feel free to reach out.

 All told, it's hard not to like THE CORPSE GRINDERS for its sheer audacity--first, in selling something so meager as a "real movie", and second, for making the movie be about THIS. Also, all of this is significantly enriched when you know a little something about Mikels, a polyamorous eccentric who lived in a castle, whose grounds--and guard geese!--were used for the scenes in Farewell Acres. I'm not even going to try to discuss his prolific exploitation career and personal exploits, because that would be better handled by a longform piece on him specifically. It seems like a few documentaries have attempted the subject, but I don't know whether they're any good. It would be nice if Frank Hennenlotter would give it a try, or someone similarly capable, if there even is such a person. In the meantime, I will contribute the sole piece of information that my own scant research has turned up in preparing for this Blogtober entry: That THE CORPSE GRINDERS was co-written by Arch Hall Sr, and Joe Cranston--father of the now-iconic Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. I don't know if I'd call that a reason to see the movie, but luckily there are plenty of other reasons to check out THE CORPSE GRINDERS this Halloween. If you don't, then you can never really know what the hell I'm talking about.

[callboxkat]

Infinitesimal (part 50)

Author’s note: I’m not sure whether you guys should be angry at my internet router for delaying this chapter by a day, or happy with it because the chapter got about 1000 words longer because I kept writing out of spite.

Anyway... I never, never, expected this story of mine to reach 50 parts. It’s really thanks to you guys that it has. So, thank you! Thank you for supporting it, for commenting, liking, reblogging, and reading this little story of mine.

Yes, that was a pun. No, I’m not sorry.

Warnings: Food mention, some envy, fear, injury mention, illness

Word count: 4031

Masterpost!

...

Virgil and Patton were sitting together at Emile’s side, drawing pictures. They let Emile decide what they would draw, since his hold on a pencil was still too shaky for him to draw well, or at least, well enough that he wouldn’t get frustrated; and they didn’t want him to feel left out or bored. Therefore, Patton was drawing a purple hedgehog, and Virgil was drawing the character Stitch. Virgil hadn’t actually seen the movie that the character was from, but he had a pretty good idea of how he looked, and Emile was more or less directing him. He had a very good memory when it came to cartoon characters.

Virgil quickly realized that the dark blue colored pencil that the humans had given them was definitely not the right one for Stitch’s fur, but Emile seemed to find the result more amusing than anything else, so Virgil counted it as a win.

He kept drawing for a while, then glanced over at Patton’s picture, which was almost complete. Virgil thought it was pretty obvious that Patton had gotten the easier task out of the two of them. Virgil’s drawing was a lot more complex, and Emile was bound to scrutinize it more, given that it was based on an existing character, and one that he loved dearly. Virgil was pretty sure this was purposeful, knowing his older brother. But that was okay. The fact that Emile felt well enough to mess with him had to be a good sign.

They kept drawing for a while. Patton technically finished well before Virgil, but he kept drawing little hearts around his hedgehog until Virgil had finished his approximation of Stitch. Once he’d finally finished, he set his colored pencils to the side and put the drawing in Emile’s lap along with Patton’s. His brother grinned in a lopsided fashion, looking at it. Virgil knew that it was objectively not very good, but he was okay with that.

“Demon Stitch?” Emile asked, his tone teasing. Patton leaned over to look.

“So, it’s an improvement on the original,” Virgil concluded slyly.

“I think he’s cute,” Patton claimed.

“You’d say that about anything I drew,” Virgil said.

“Because it’s true.”

“A cute demon,” Emile decided. He thought for a moment. “Like the real Stitch.”

Deciding not to point out that there was no such thing as a real Stitch, Virgil sat up and stretched, his shoulders and back popping in a very satisfying way.

Patton picked up the hedgehog he had drawn and started to show it to Emile, pointing at its cute black nose and nubby little legs. Emile seemed just as happy with it as he had been with Virgil’s drawing.

“I’m gonna get some water,” he announced. He grabbed his crutches and got to his feet, walking over to where the humans had left a pair of water-filled bottle caps that day.

He could feel Patton’s eyes on him as he got up—his friend hand been watching him more closely lately, although Virgil wasn’t sure why. He guessed that it had something to do with his bad foot, but that injury was nothing new. His foot had been hurting him more than usual, since he’d landed on it pretty hard when he caught Patton after his friend fainted while searching for Emile, but that was several days ago. It was better now. And he hadn’t even mentioned it to Patton, or Emile, at all. He was fine. Patton didn’t need to worry about him.

He reached the bottle cap and knelt down beside it, grabbing a sunflower seed shell to use as a cup, a trick he’d picked up from Patton. He had just finished his drink when he heard footsteps; and he looked up to see one of the humans, Roman this time, standing there. He had a blanket around his shoulders and a simultaneously hopeful and guilty look in his eyes.

“Hi,” the human said.

…

Roman was tired of sitting in his room all day. Sure, he’d only been stuck in there for a few days, but he was bored.

He supposed he should be grateful. To Logan, for helping to take care of him, and to his manager, for being amazing and letting him take off as much time as he needed until he was well. She justified that if Roman went to work too soon, he’d just get sicker, and his wheezing might scare customers. Roman loved her. And he was grateful. Really.

But mostly, he just wanted to go outside. It wasn’t his fault the weather was trying to kill him.

Roman huffed, looking down at his phone. The loading symbol spun slowly on the screen where his movie was supposed to be playing. The app he was using hadn’t been working for a while now, not since Logan had stopped by for lunch.

After another minute or two of just watching the loading percentage sit at 99, Roman closed out of the app.

He sat there for a moment, then glanced at the closed bedroom door. Maybe he couldn’t go outside, but he could at least leave his room. Maybe the app would be more willing to load in the kitchen, marginally closer to the router. And if it didn’t… well, Roman couldn’t help but be tempted by another option.

Roman kicked off his blankets, and then got slowly to his feet. He put his phone into the pocket of his pajama pants, grabbed one of the blankets off of the bed to wrap around his shoulders, stuck his feet into his slippers, and shuffled over to the door.

He sat down at the kitchen table at first, and stayed there for a minute while he tried again to load his app. He wasn’t all that surprised to find that it didn’t work here either; and to be honest, he wasn’t all that disappointed. The kitchen table wasn’t the most comfortable place to watch a movie, and now he had more of an excuse for his other option. His eyes flicked towards the living room at the thought.

Hardly daring to hope, Roman wrapped himself up in the blanket and walked up to the other room. He hoped the mouse-men were feeling friendly.

…

Initially, of course, he was flatly rejected. Virgil was predictably against any idea that meant being around the humans for any amount of time longer than necessary.

But the mouse-man’s brother had perked up visibly at the idea, despite his clear apprehension at the fact that Roman would be in the room. And Patton seemed supportive, if shy about that support.

While the three of them debated, Roman shuffled from foot to foot in the doorway, stifling wheezes and only allowing himself to occasionally glance in the mouse-men’s direction.

Finally, probably because of Emile, Virgil caved. He looked up towards Roman, his arms crossed, and simply said, “Fine.”

Roman couldn’t help the small, excited smile that snuck upon his face. He stepped into the living room, careful to move slowly, and sat down on the couch with his legs bundled up next to him. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television, glad that the volume was already set low.

He knew Emile would probably still be too nervous to tell Roman what he wanted to watch, but Roman already had a movie in mind, one that he was sure the mouse-man would like. He’d seen the image of the balloon-carried house on Emile’s blanket, and whether or not he’d actually seen the movie that inspired it, Roman was sure that the little guy would enjoy it. Even aside from already being familiar to the mouse-men, Up was a great movie. It had a love story, adventure, and talking dogs. What else could you want from a film?

…

Emile hoped that he hadn’t made a mistake. But in his defense, the human had promised cartoons. And, well, Emile loved cartoons.

Plus, it wasn’t as if this human had hurt him or his family, right? He seemed nice, for a human, based on Patton’s stories and how he’d treated them since Emile’s accident.

Still, he watched apprehensively as the human turned on the television and brought up the movie he planned to watch. Roman was curled up on the sofa in his scarlet pajama pants, white t-shirt, and slippers, with his hair sticking up slightly and a fuzzy blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His breaths were more labored than Emile thought was normal for a human, which made sense, since he’d heard that the human was sick.

In short, Roman wouldn’t have looked at all threatening, if only he wasn’t so enormous.

The opening sequence for the film started playing, and Emile glanced towards the television. He bit back a gasp, realizing that he recognized what was on the screen. It was Up, one of his absolute favorite movies.

He’d never actually seen it in its entirety, since, as a little, he didn’t get to watch much television to begin with; and on the rare occasion that he did watch it, he had to watch whatever the humans in that apartment happened to be watching. Only on a couple of occasions had he been able to watch this movie, and he’d never gotten to see how it ended.

Emile couldn’t deny that he was excited about the prospect, even if a human was in the room with him.

A voice interrupted his thoughts, large despite its owner trying to muffle its volume. “Is this movie okay?”

Emile flinched despite himself, unable to help being jumpy with a human in the room, sending a small jolt of pain through his injured shoulder and head.

Patton and Virgil both looked to Emile for an answer. Virgil didn’t seem happy, but Patton was gave him a supportive look. Emile swallowed and offered one small nod, subconsciously fastening his hand on the blanket that Patton had brought from home. Yes, he could bear watching television with a human—one who knew he was there—if it meant he got to see Up.

“It’ll be fine,” he whispered to Virgil. His younger brother just sighed and settled in, apparently determined to keep an eye on Roman during the film.

…

At first, the room was still and silent other than the movie, creating a somewhat awkward atmosphere. Roman got as comfortable as he could, keeping his movements slow as he tried to find a position that was both cozy and easy to breathe in. As he lay there, he did his best to not feel offended or hurt by how reluctant the mouse-men had been to let Roman watch television with them; but sometimes they made him start to feel as if he were some huge, disgusting monster. It wasn’t his fault he was so much bigger than them. That, and Virgil kept staring at him.

So, at first, it was a bit awkward.

But soon enough, Roman was drawn into the story; and he was able to forget about the awkwardness and the feeling of Virgil’s stare as it bored into him.

Apparently, the same had been happening with the mouse-men. When Ellie, Mr. Fredricksen’s wife, fell ill, he heard a small gasp from their direction, only for it to be quickly stifled. That had been Emile, if Roman had to guess. All three of them seemed to be trying to keep from getting too immersed in the film with Roman there. But as the movie continued, and Roman kept his eyes firmly on the screen, they seemed to grow more comfortable.

Patton and Emile gasped, laughed, and maybe even cried, reacting at all the right parts. Emile had trouble containing his excitement whenever Kevin was on screen, and Patton quietly gushed about how cute Dug was. After a while, even Virgil (mostly) stopped staring down Roman to watch. Through it all, Roman took great care to not so much as move, afraid that they’d stop if he gave any sign of acknowledging their presence. He just listened, smiling softly to himself as the movie played. Patton so rarely smiled or laughed, and his companions deserved some enjoyment to take their minds off of what they had been through. Even if it was for the hour and a half run of this movie.

…

When the story came to a close and the credits started to roll, Roman finally allowed himself to move. All three of the mouse-men’s gazes turned to him, making Roman feel self-conscious.

He stretched, muffling a cough, and looked towards them.

“Want to watch something else?” he asked. “Or, I guess… we could always watch this again.”

Roman had made that second suggestion mostly as a joke, but Emile’s mouth fell open at the possibility.

“You can do that?” he asked, so soft that Roman barely heard him. He seemed surprised enough that it overrode his fear of speaking to Roman. Obviously he knew that humans could control what televisions played, to an extent at least, but the fact that Roman could just play the same thing over again if he wanted to seemed like almost too much for the little guy to believe.

Roman nodded.

Virgil gave him a sharp, meaningful look, and Roman reached for the remote. “Okay, we’ll watch it again. I’m gonna….” He muffled a cough. “I’ll be right back. Ten minutes, then movie?” He didn’t want to have to get up in the middle of it and bother the mouse-men.

Virgil narrowed his eyes, but he nodded.

Alright, then. They were going to watch Up twice in one day. That was okay with Roman. More than okay, in fact, since it meant getting to spend more time with the mouse-men.

…

It was dark before Logan finally got home, tired from a long day at work. He wished that his boss didn’t take Logan being on break from school as a reason to give him longer shifts. It more or less nullified any sort of respite he might have gotten from his normally busy schedule. He just wanted to put away his things, loosen his tie, and relax for a while with a good book. There was some time before dinner, he reasoned as he trudged up the stairs to the second floor of the apartment building. He could get in some reading first.

He reached the landing, very glad for the sake of his sore feet that he didn’t live higher up in the building. Logan never took the elevator. He claimed that it was for the health benefits that taking the stairs provided; but while that was certainly an added reward, Logan simply hated elevators. It was illogical, he knew, but he couldn’t help it. They were small, and cramped, and smelled weird, and he didn’t like them.

So, this very tired Logan was glad that he had only had to walk up one flight of stairs. He soon reached his own apartment and gratefully unlocked the door. He stepped inside with a relieved sigh and closed the door behind him.

He removed his shoes and set down his bag, pausing as he heard sound coming from nearby. It was fairly soft, but not so soft that Logan believed it to be coming from a different apartment.

When he walked further inside, to the middle of the kitchen, Logan’s suspicions were confirmed. The television was on, playing an animated movie. He could see the top of Roman’s head where he lay on the couch, his curly hair illuminated by the light of the television.

Logan took a few more steps, just until he could see the “mouse-men”. To his surprise, they all seemed to be watching the movie along with Roman. He’d been worried, just slightly, that Roman might have been making them uncomfortable by intruding to watch his frivolous film, but it seemed that that was not the case. Logan should have known better, he supposed. Roman surely would have thought to ask for permission before watching a movie with them. He was the better of the two of them at interacting with the “mouse-men” after all.

He felt unexpectedly sad as he stood there, unnoticed, watching the scene. He was glad that Roman had earned enough trust for something like this to happen, but Logan couldn’t help but wish that it was he who got to watch a film with their guests. For a brief moment, he considered joining them, but he knew that that was a bad idea. He didn’t want to interrupt their guests’ enjoyment of it. There was no way he could walk in and join them without doing so. So, instead, he silently pulled up a kitchen chair, and sat there to watch the movie and pretend that he was a part of this.

He felt like somewhat of an outsider as he sat there, alone in the kitchen. But that was okay. Although he would have liked to feel included, he felt that it was the better choice to remain where he was. The “mouse-men” doubtless would find it harder to relax if Logan tried to truly join their movie watching. They could deal with one human being in there with them, but two would probably be too much. The last thing Logan wanted was to tarnish their guests’ opinion of him by scaring them yet again.

It wasn’t as if Logan was a big fan of cartoons or Disney to begin with. It was fine.

He stayed until the movie ended and the credits began to roll. Only then did he quietly return the kitchen chair to its usual place and walk over to the stove to start dinner.

When he was looking through the pots and pans in the cabinet, he heard a set of footsteps shuffle up behind him.

“Good evening, Roman,” he said without turning around, reaching for the pot he wanted.

He received a mumbled greeting in return. It was not exactly Roman’s usual bright demeanor and clever nickname, but understandable given he was still feeling like less than his usual, colorful self.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, straightening.

Roman hummed, like he was considering his answer. “Fabulous,” he answered finally, in a voice that didn’t quite match the word he’d chosen.

“Oh, fabulous?” Logan glanced over his shoulder at his roommate, who was in his pajamas and had a blanket around his shoulders. “That’s good to hear.”

Roman nodded. “We watched Up… twice today. The movie.”

“Twice?”

“Emile wanted to,” he explained, his mouth curving into a fond smile.

“Well, I’m glad you were able to make him happy,” Logan said, turning back around. He walked to the sink, turning the handle a little sharply. Water gushed from the tap.

Roman was silent for a second, watching as Logan poured water, then rice into the pot.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, sounding confused.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Logan said, putting the lid on the pot. “Dinner should be finished in about twenty minutes, if you want to get back to your friends.”

Roman coughed into his sleeve. “I don’t know that… we’re friends,” he said sheepishly. When Logan didn’t reply, just opening the freezer to grab a packet of vegetables, he added, “Maybe you could come join us. Em… You should’ve seen Emile. He got all starry-eyed… when he saw what movie we were watching. I bet he’ll… want to see more cartoons.”

Logan hesitated, the freezer door still open. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“Well, I can ask,” Roman offered. “It can’t hurt to ask… can it?”

Yes, it absolutely could, Logan wanted to say. They could say no.

He didn’t say that, but the long silence that stretched between them seemed to convey Logan’s sentiments just as well.

“Just let me ask,” Roman said, his voice softening.

Logan didn’t answer, tapping one fingernail on the counter top.

Roman’s muffled footsteps retreated back to the other room.

…

Logan waited for the rice to finish cooking, watching the steam fog up the lid of the pot. The dishes, including the bottle caps and miniature silverware for their guests, were sitting ready at his side.

He turned off the burner and sighed through his nose.

Within a few minutes, he had each of the plates ready with the rice and veggies. He added some seasoning to all but one of them, since he wasn’t sure if Emile’s sensitive stomach would tolerate that.

As he approached the living room, he realized that another cartoon’s opening sequence was on the television now, which meant that Roman planned to continue their movie night of sorts. Logan sighed, set his own plate at the kitchen table, and took the others into the living room.

“I have dinner,” he announced softly before going in, not wanting to startle anyone. Virgil gave him a mistrustful look, and Emile shifted somewhat nervously. Patton, meanwhile, who was sitting next to Emile, smiled shyly as a sort of greeting.

Logan actually stopped walking at that, sooner than he had intended to. Had he ever seen Patton smile before? He didn’t think he had.

“Thanks, Lo,” Roman said, holding out his hands for his plate.

Logan shook his head minutely to clear it, then handed it over. He placed the dishes for the “mouse-men” on their table, and he turned to leave.

“Can you bring me some lemonade… when you come back?” Roman asked.

Logan paused. When he came back? He turned around, and Roman was smiling knowingly at him.

At first he shrugged it off, but then he realize what Roman meant. The “mouse-men” had said yes? They were willing to watch television with both humans there? They had done that before, with Patton, of course, but Emile had agreed? Virgil had agreed?

“Ah…” Logan faltered. “Yes. I can do that.”

He came back with the lemonade and his own dinner, and he carefully sat down on the couch beside Roman.

“Long day?” Roman murmured, pressing the “play” button.

The “mouse-men”, especially Emile and Virgil, sent occasional glances in his direction, but they all seemed more interested in the show and in their own food. “You could say that,” he murmured back.

“Take tomorrow off,” Roman whispered.

Logan frowned. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re not… a robot,” Roman said, lowering his voice further. “Jokes aside. Take a break. I know you’ve… been stressed, with school, and these guys, and work… and even though finals are done, that doesn’t mean you can’t… be burned out.”

Logan sighed, looking up at the screen for a moment. A pair of children were arguing in a boat, and the girl’s frustration was causing the ice around them to crack.

His gaze shifted to the table to the side, where the three “mouse-men” sat. Patton and Virgil both glanced over at his movement, although Emile’s eyes stayed glued to the screen. Virgil frowned at him, but Patton gave him a small wave.

Logan lifted up his hand just slightly as a sort of wave back.

Maybe Roman made a good point. Perhaps he had overreacted a bit to the fact that Roman had gotten to watch a movie with the “mouse-men”, and he hadn’t. It wasn’t his fault that Logan had been working at the time, or that Virgil and Emile were still wary of the humans. And they were wary of Roman, too, not just Logan.

He’d overreacted. It had been a long day, and Logan was tired, and he grew irritable when he was tired.

He should have been focusing on the progress that he had made with their tiny guests, not on how far they still had to go. Patton was speaking to him, had thanked him, had smiled at him just that day. Regardless of their lack of options, the “mouse-men” had trusted Logan and Roman to bring Emile back to them and to help him recover. They were all sitting together, right then, watching a cartoon and eating dinner.

That was progress.

Logan just had to let himself see it. And maybe that required giving himself a break.

“I’ll take tomorrow off,” he murmured.

“Good,” Roman murmured back.

They went back to watching the show. All five of them, together.

...

Bonus: Patton’s and Virgil’s drawings!