#I mean I guess you could like link it/mention it but seriously don’t repost

[the-lesbian-orpheus]

I drew irl scar for the first time for new years

Kinda proud of him especially because it was a quick one and quick is not my usual

I’m not used to drawing cats and I didn’t have refs so the kitties look a little less like Katy Finn and jellie and more like randoms but that’s okay <3

Have a wonderful 2025 everyone!

[shadowdianne]

Fic writer review [Or a fic writer tag game if you prefer]

I was tagged by @naralanis and I can already see her grin all the way from where I am xd Thank you, dear, for the tag, let’s see what are my answers, shall we.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

*bursts out laughing* Adding both pseuds I have… 535 according to the account info but by counting them all I’m reaching 541 so I’m guessing it’s counting some drafts I need to re-find.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

I seriously hated you for this one xd I was going to do it by hand by I decided one-third there that I value my mental stability a little bit more xd according to the stats page back at a03 that number would be 1257884. It may be wrong. I think there should be a few more numbers up there but the majority of my works are one-shots so *shrugs* There’s also the fact that counting my ao3 things only is shaving off like half of it Xd Anyway, can we laugh at the fact that I’m a pain in the ass and that I’ve written a lot? More than I should have, that’s for sure

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

Trick question because I haven’t crossposted everything I wrote back in ffnet and I actually erased some fics from my account back there so the numbers are a little blurry there.

When I had the entirety of my work posted both in ffnet and a03 I had written for: Twilight (Bella/Alice) Glee (Faberry and there were a couple Pezberry and I don’t fucking remember the pairing name for Santana and Quinn), Harry Potter (Hermione/Ginny, Hermione/Narcissa, Hermione/Bellatrix) OUAT (SwanQueen and several oneshots focusing on the mad hatter and the blue fairy solely back at ffnet that were written in Spanish and never translated), I actually had a veeeery old au prompt of Frozen (Elsanna in where I wrote them as non sibilings), Rizzoli and Isles (Rizzles), Dishonored 2 (Emily Kaldwin/Alexi Mayhew), Lara Croft and Wonder Woman, Supergirl (SuperCorp/Supercat) I had a 100 one -or maybe two??- (Clexa), The Shannara Chronicles (Amberle/Eretreia [Or Princess Rover], Rwby [Blake Belladona/Yang], The Worst Witch (Hecate Hardbroom and Pippa Pentangle), The Half of it, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Madam Satan/Zelda Spellman) and… I think that’s it(?) I may be forgetting some but probably nothing important if I’m not remembering it lol.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Ah, we are going to go there, uh? Xd My works are not the kudos and comment getting type Xd So I was quite surprised when I went to check this.

1: Cracked it I wrote this one back in 2017, it was a prompt done by an anon: Lena is nerding with one of her projects at home, mumbling mostly to herself because she’s stuck and Kara casually mentions how to solve the problem like it’s nothing. I really had some fun with this. It was back when some us, SQeeners were fully doing the jump between OUAT and SuperGirl (I mean, there had already been some crossover as for fandom is related but this when the girls were actually getting their conjoined voice within the fandom)

2: Dateless I honestly needed to check what this one was about but I think I can see why this one shot has the amount of kudos it has. It’s a short and sweet idea and responds to the Teachers Au that went SO well with SQ. Everyone thinks they hate each other and try to set them up with other people whilst they, in truth, are dating. I don’t remember if I wrote them as married rather than dating but despite being from 2017 as well is one cheeky enough to be cool Xd I probably would edit some lines now *shudders*

3: After you I truly didn’t expect this one to be top 3. Makes me think of a lot of things, if I’m being honest Xd. After you was a one shot written almost feverishly as an answer to the fabulous drawings that Sejic did of both Lara Croft and Wonder Woman back at 2018 or something. It’s just Lara and Diana being himbos but not at all with each other.

4: How about… How about is one I remember perfectly, it was my answer to the ending of the Half of it film. I had SOME thoughts about it, let’s just stop there Xd I really liked the film itself but I think and I thought at the time that my response to wishing for a final scene at the very end of the credits responds to me being in a different personal moment than the characters. I really wanted to explore my feelings about it and so I wrote about them finding each other again after some time passes. It was also something I wrote after quite the hiatus so I took it as something I could write about without focusing too much on the why.

5: Come to me

Ahh, SuperCorp Xd I remember this one actually. A friend of mine and I were talking about descriptions, and she mentioned quite off-handedly how she wanted a fic in where Kara’s back was described. I complied… more or less.

Fun tidbit, despite the big volume of my work is obviously set in ouat there’s only 1 SQ fic there as you can see, the others are either SuperCorp or the random one shots I created for Wonderwoman/Lara Croft and The half of it. *sighs in deep thought* I’m also not going to look too much into how almost all of the fics were posted and written back in 2017. Nope, not at all.

*Small voice screaming you peaked in 2017 and everything else is garbage jumps back and forth*

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

I tend to always respond, yup. I truly value comments. I might have gone for spells of time in where I didn’t have the mental capacity to check in old fics because I truly didn’t know what to answer but I treasure every single comment and you all who comment know that I can start to ramble in the answers xd -sorry about that- I really really REALLY love interaction.

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending:

Ok, Nara, come on, this one is a catch for me. I’ve written angst in far too many fics to remember the angstiest one :P I have the most recent one, though, that is the easy one to think about: Goodbye.Written for @delirious-comfort. I’m just going to say “Kisses with their last dying breath” as an idea of what awaits inside but I’ve written about death and loss and angst quite a lot. There were some I wrote back to SQ with Regina needing to kill Emma during the Dark Swan arc that, to this day, I still love and some others in where Regina is the one that dies, again and again, trapped by magic while Emma watches. I have the loss in mental destruction form and… I REALLY like my angst y’know xd

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not counting Lara and Wonder Woman not really! I think it comes from the fact that I loooove worldbuilding as a whole and some pairings would require all my focus into making the world perfect which in turn would make me self conscious on the OOCness of it all.

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

*snorts* I’ve received hate due to the pairing I’ve written about, how I’ve written about it, the amount I’ve written, how slow or quick I can be, the usage of some tropes, the lack of usage of those same tropes… Let’s just go with: yuuuup.

9. Do you write smut?

I’ve written smut, yeah! But I can already see the pointed looks of some so let’s elaborate Xd I write smut when asked and sometimes when not asked but there’s a part of me I like to call a terrible tease that prefers writing the beginning of a scene, taunt it, focus on what happens before the sex scene per se as I find it more enjoyable to write. The process of escalation is always the best for me to see what can I do it by using both dialogue and descriptors tbh, so I tend to tease more than show.

9. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

A few weeks ago I’d have said: Maybe(?) But trying to follow the trail of some other fics that had been stolen from some friends -I think it was me trying to find more about the page that stole something from your Nara!- I found some pages in where my fics had been reposted. In some it was stated that the person posting the fic wasn’t the author but I had never been contacted in order to see if I’d say yes to such a thing and in some others the page was locked up but I could still see someone was pretending to be the author. I did the thing and got some of those down.

Pointed note: Ask me if you want to post or translate or anything. I will look into you and answer you if you seem honest about the thing. But despite every joke and self-deprecating comment those 500 and then some fics represent MY time so very kindly I say fuck off to those who wish to steal from me and if I catch you… you don’t really want to see me angry, trust me.

10. Ever had a fic translated?

I’ve given permission to some, yeah, but never heard it back from them so I’m guessing it didn’t stick.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

I’ve written series alongside other authors as @stregaomega for example. And some others that are unpublished -looking at you @carsonnieve - I’ve also done collabs… but fics co-written in the sense of two authors same chapters I don’t have anything posted I’m afraid :P

13. All-time favourite ship?

*snorts*, I guess the obvious answer is SQ uh? And I do think they were the ones that allowed me to read and write SO much. The one I feel more strongly about, however, is Bering and Wells from Warehouse 13.

14. WIP you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

All of them counts as a valid answer? But if I only could finish one that would be Arcadia. With A forgotten Promise second and the one I did as an Assassins Creed AU third. (I don’t remember the name so there’s no link, sorry xd)

15. Writing strengths?

Uhhhh, you REALLY want me to say that? I don’t fucking know!! To me everything I write is garbage. I always try to go for the feelings so I guess. Dunno xd I’ve been told I’m good at worldbuilding and to be honest is what I enjoy the most.

16. Writing weaknesses?

Everything Xd Pacing? What I hate the most sometimes is dialogue, I would count it as a weakness but I’m always far too focused on description rather than dialogue. I don’t think it’s a bad thing per se but it’s something that I don’t do as much.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I’m conflicted. Always. Majorly because I think that having bilingual characters in fanfiction is portrayed and expected in a way that I don’t feel it’s honest with how bilingual people -us- talk. So if I go by what I know I do I think it’s not what readers hope to see when it comes to that and if I go for how canonically is hoped to be found I don’t think it’s logical. But that’s me and my overthinking Xd If I have the option I like to do it.

18. First fandom you ever wrote for?

Belice! Or Bella/Alice. Worst first fic ever but oh, well, I’m always saying that :P

19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far?

Uhh… Don’t make me do this XD Agh, I don’t know. I’ve always been very vocal about Metallic Ink because I let myself enjoy the process of creating a magic system almost out of zero and that was fun. Despite hating some of the writing process and that I’d do it differently now I think I’m going to stick with that answer. Or anything that had any steampunk-based undertone. To be honest I like more thinking of concepts, I had one in where Emma was a thief and it involved the robbery of a ring that was Regina’s one way ticket to freedom I then later repurposed that I adored thinking about so let’s go with…. Yeah, I love having the option of changing things up a little and focus on how characters would fit in different aesthetics for this one Xd

Annnd… these are four pages, gods. I’m just going to tag @waknatious @carsonnieve @stregaomega here and see what they do- Enjoy the questionnaire ladies :P

[soopersara]

Okay I have seen several people say that Bryan and Mike supported the original movie until after the backlash and was wondering if you knew of any sources on it?

Okay, I know you just saw some of the stuff I managed to dig up (or had friends find for me, thank you so much @lady-of-bath, you truly are the queen!), but since the internet has been blowing up over the announcement that Bryan and Mike are no longer working on the Netflix live action ATLA remake, I might as well throw this out in public too!

So, in the interest of being as objective as humanly possible, let me start off by saying that the internet being what it is, it’s hard to find sources of information about the creation of a 10-year old, widely panned movie. The fact that I can’t personally find it doesn’t mean that it isn’t out there, or that it wasn’t purged in the past 10 years. But, that said, I wound up with more than I expected. Brace yourselves 😉 (sources will be linked!)

So, back in 2008, both Bryan and Mike were very enthusiastic about the movie. And, in their own words, well... Bryan said:

The one thing we weren't joking about is that we really are helping on the movie quite a bit. Night has been very collaborative from the get-go, from the first time we ever met him. Very respectful of the project and of us. So we're helping out a lot on that.

They also did this interview with M. Night Shyamalan (posted in July 2009, though I’m not sure when it was filmed), in which it was confirmed that:

Bryan and Mike were actively working with M. Night

Bryan and Mike looked over M. Night’s script and approved of the changes 

Bryan and Mike were planning to be on set for filming

Based on the content of the video interview, it’s clear that casting wasn’t complete at the time the interview was filmed, though the initial cast was announced in December 2008, before the interview was posted. So it’s hard to say whether Bryan or Mike had strong feelings about the whitewashing of the cast at the time, but based on the fact that Mike said (6:05 in the video linked above), “Well, if you don’t find anyone for Aang, I’d like to suggest perhaps I could, y’know, maybe play him”, I don’t think whitewashing was high on their list of concerns at the time. I know it’s a joke. I know that. But given Bryke’s tendencies to make insensitive, or downright insulting jokes, then double down on them years later (Book 4: Air, and Bryan’s later repost of the video with the world’s most condescending caption (featuring a dictionary definition of the word “joke”), I’m looking at you) rather than admitting that they were in poor taste (and the fact that that adult Aang looks exactly like Mike with a jawline), I’m inclined to believe that they genuinely DID NOT CARE about the ethnicity of the actors cast at this point. And again, this interview came before the casting and before the associated backlash.

Now, admittedly, this is the last information I can find from Bryke relating to the live action movie before the movie’s release in 2010. And a lot can change in 2 years. According to this post, a lot did change, and not at M. Night’s request, though this is a secondary source of a now-deleted forum post, so the reliability of the information is anyone’s guess. But, that said, there was an active controversy surrounding the casting of the live action beginning in 2008 (taking the timeline from the wiki because I can’t find a semi-comprehensive rundown anywhere else). The movie was released in 2010. Plenty of people associated with the original series made their disapproval public. Bryke, though? The first time I can find them even referring to the live action disaster is in this interview from 2011:

Wall Street Journal: Have you heard anything about whether there will be a sequel to the "Last Airbender" live-action feature film? Michael DiMartino: Uh, no. It's definitely not up to us, so.

No mention of their opinion of the thing. And three years of silence doesn’t exactly equate to an endorsement of the movie, but uh... three years is a lot of time in which they could have made their opinions known, especially about the whitewashing, which was a widely-known problem. 

If they were truly concerned about representation, which seems to be the thing that a LOT of the internet is worried about after their exit from the Netflix live action, wouldn’t they have had something to say about it? Just asking. 

Oh, but they did... eventually. In 2013, 3 years after the movie’s release, and 5 years after they (to my knowledge) last expressed an opinion on the movie, Bryan made this post in response to criticism of the Kataang kids’ skin color in LOK. And he had this to say about the live action movie:

I prefer to stay out of this type of discourse on Tumblr and let the large body of work Mike and I have put out there over the years speak for itself (which obviously DOES NOT include the gross misinterpretations and misrepresentations of our work in this guy’s work). 

That’s as specific as it gets. Pretty passive-aggressive and open to interpretation if you ask me. The only reason you can tell that he’s actually referring to the live action movie is because in the original post, “this guy” links out to M. Night’s page, and the only reason you can tell that he’s referring to the whitewashing of the cast is because the post is a response to similar criticisms levelled against LOK. 

Then apparently there was an interview in 2014 that finally went more in depth on the subject of the live action, but the original was deleted, and the transcript I was able to locate is practically unreadable. No names attached to any of what was said, so I really couldn’t tell you who thought what about the movie, and honestly, if anyone can decipher this garbled mess, I salute you. It seriously looks like a cat walked across a keyboard for an hour while autocorrect went bananas. 

Ah, old internet drama. So hard to track down. 

Anyway, all of that is why the wiki summarizes the situation by saying:

Before the film's release, co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino vocally supported the film, even appearing in an interview with M. Night Shyamalan. However, following the film's release and the negative reception it had received, the two remained quiet on the film, making only brief statements on it.

And that is why I’m laughing my butt off with every person I see lamenting Bryke’s exit from the Netflix live action. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have high hopes for the thing. Ideally, I’d like to see the whole thing cancelled, ATLA allowed to go down in history as a great show, and the creators to move on to new, unrelated projects (come on, dudes, you’ve gotta have at least one more original idea you could try instead of beating the ATLA universe into a bloody, unrecognizable pulp). And failing that, I’d like to see the show recreated faithfully, some plot threads in Book 3 tied a little tighter, and no canon romances with the possible exception of Suki/Sokka. But Bryke’s involvement was never a guarantee of quality. Sure, it might suck without them. But it could have sucked just as badly with them on board. Maybe now it will suck in new and unexpected ways!

[sunsetcurbed]

i’ll keep us together (whatever it takes)

Pairing: Alex/Willie  Words: 9,237 Rating: T  Warnings: none read on AO3 

Summary:  “Willie,” Julie’s voice sounds.  “Hey, Julie,” Willie greets. “I—uh—“ “Can Alex not see you?” she whispers. Okay, so… right. Right. This is a thing. (*) (or: alex has changed, and he's all but taken away from willie. willie doesn't settle for that.) I found out that apparently tumblr doesn’t post link posts in the tags unless they get a lot of notes so I’m reposting this as a text post and also posting the fic here on tumblr as well! Fic under the read more. :) 

(*)

"Hey," Willie cheers, watching as Alex walks into the garage, head hanging down. Alex doesn't look up, just walks over and flops dramatically on the couch. Willie laughs at his boyfriend, and follows over. "Hey, hot dog," he calls again. Alex still doesn't look up. Furrowing his eyebrows, Willie crouches down next to him and reaches out to shake Alex's shoulder.

His hand passes through.

Willie draws his hand back quickly in surprise, and stares down at it. He reaches again, and again, his hand passes through Alex.

He scrambles to his feet and looks around. Something's wrong. Something—he's not sure what's going on, but something…

He steps back, and back, and back, until he's standing in the middle of the studio, and rushes through the open door. He stands in the driveway for a minute, struggling with his thoughts, until—

"Willie," Julie's voice whispers.

His head snaps up and he sees her walking down the pathway from her house. They found out last year that Julie could see all ghosts, and that her power extended beyond they band in that aspect. Unfortunately, Willie didn't share their powers in becoming visible when playing an instrument, which was one of the first things they tried, right after trying to rid Willie of Caleb's stamp. Neither had worked.

"Hey, Julie," Willie greets. "I—uh—"

"Can he not see you?" she whispers.

Okay, so… right. Right. This is a thing. She already knew about it, which—

"No. Why can't he?"

Julie walks towards him and offers a smile. But it's—it's a sad smile, one that Willie knows is accompanied by bad news. Suddenly, he regrets asking. "He's alive."

What?

No, seriously, what?

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know… unfinished business. Does… do you know if 'crossing over' means back to the world of the living?"

"I—I-I don't know? I wouldn't think so? I've never see someone cross over. I just thought…"

"We did, too," Julie says. "But the guys… we signed today. With a record label."

"What? That's awesome!" Alex had mentioned Destiny Management but he hadn't said they were officially signing.

"It is," she says, but her voice doesn't sound like it. "After each one of them signed, they came back to life, though. Heart, blood, eating, sleeping, everything."

Willie shakes his head. "But they should have…"

"We always thought that when they did their unfinished business, they'd… go to heaven, or whatever. But apparently crossing over, at least for them, meant crossing over back to the living."

"So Alex…"

"He's not like me," Julie frowns. "He can't see you."

"Fuck," Willie curses. There's a noise in the studio, and Willie turns around and sees Alex through the window, walking towards the driveway. "I—I gotta go," he stammers, and then he's gone from there and landing in the sand on the beach, where he had thought he and Alex would spend their time tonight.

Fuck, he thinks. All the pain the last year and a half has brought—the battle with Caleb for his soul, the fight between them all with Caleb, defeating the man who'd held him captive for years, and finally getting to be with Alex, stress free—all that pain and stress were for nothing, weren't they? Because Willie doesn't even have Alex anymore, the person who inspired him to fight back. The person who made it worth it. The person who was there to hold him after Caleb's hold on him broke will never be able to hold him again.

Not unless—

Willie's got work to do.

(*)

The next time Willie sees Alex is at the skate park, three months after it happened. Alex is leaning on the fence, staring at the bowl with sad eyes. He watches the people in the park fly up and down the ramps, and clings to the fence with a tight fist. Willie skates out of the park and passes through the fence to stand next to Alex.

"I miss you, too," he says, knowing that Alex can't hear him. "I mean, I haven't gone to Julie's studio looking for you like you're here, but. It's different when I can see you. You're living with the memory of me. I'm living with the reality of seeing you and hearing you, but not being able to interact."

Alex looks away from the skate park and towards the beach. His fingers curl tighter around the chain link fence until his knuckles turn white.

"I'm trying for you, man," Willie says, his voice high and tight. "I don't even know if I'll become human again like you did, but it's worth a shot. Even if I don't become human, at least I'll cross over and I won't have to be alone anymore. Maybe? I don't actually know where I'd go if I didn't become human again. I might still be alone. There might not be anything waiting for me. That's not as scary as having to live for an eternity without you, though. Or, not without you, but. Like this. Having you but… not really."

Alex draws in a shaky breath, and Willie poofs to his other side to get a glimpse of his face. His eyes are wet and he's chewing his bottom lip. He's doing everything he can not to cry, and that breaks Willie.

"I'm sorry," Willie whimpers. "I know I meant it way back when, when I said we never should have met, but that was because I almost got you guys killed. Once you were better, I didn't think I could ever feel that way again. But maybe I was right, even beyond that. Maybe it would be better if we'd never met. It'd be better for you." He reaches out a hand for Alex, but quickly drops it back to his side when he remembers he can't make contact anymore. He draws in a deep breath, but it hitches involuntarily. "But we did meet. We did, and now you have to live with the consequences of that. Is that what they are? Consequences? I guess so. I wish I could undo this all. Not—not you getting a second chance at life. You deserve it. But… I wish I could undo us."

Alex releases his grip on the fence and walks forward, right through Willie. Willie spins on his heel and watches Alex take a seat on a bench a few feet away. He looks up and around and finally, the tears fall from his eyes. Willie feels sick.

"No, I don't," he says in a rush. "God, I wish I wished I could undo us but I could never willingly give you up, Alex. No matter how much it hurts. Even though you're hurting I know you'll move on. That's how it works, right? God, we were only together for a little over a year, we only knew each other for a year and a half. That's hardly a lifetime love story, right? You'll find someone better—someone alive, and… and…"

And Willie can't do this anymore.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, taking in one last look at Alex's tearful face before poofing away.

(*)

The next time, he finds Alex at his grave. At Alex's grave.

See, Alex had asked him to go with him back in January. He'd needed to see what his tombstone said (Alex Mercer / December 18th 1978 – July 21st 1995 / Your song will live on forever.) and come to terms, fully, with his death. Willie had been more than happy to go with him, to hold him through his tears as he saw that his parents had actually put something dedicated to him, even if it was as small as an acknowledgment to his music. Ever since Alex crossed over, Willie has come here a few times a month to talk to the boy, because it's easier talking to a grave than it is to a person who won't respond.

When Willie reaches the grave, Alex is just standing there, staring at the headstone. He doesn't say anything, and neither does Willie. Instead, Willie looks around for another tomb with flowers on it. When he finds one, he plucks a single flower from the bouquet and walks over to Alex's grave again, and lays the flower down on the headstone.

Alex gasps. "Hello?" he murmurs. "Is… Willie?" he asks hopefully.

Willie doesn't have the heart to ignore him, so he picks the flower up again and hands it to the boy. Alex takes it reluctantly. "I miss you," Willie says, even though he knows Alex won't hear him.

"I miss you," Alex says, and Willie blinks. "God, I—I'm not even allowed to be upset about crossing over because I… I get to be with my band, and I'm, Willie, we're fucking going on tour. We're only opening, but we're touring. They think we'll be headlining our own tour in the next year or two. How am I supposed to be upset about that, right? But I—but I am. Because I have to do it without you and that's—that's not fair. That wasn't part of the deal, right? We were supposed to be fucking ghosts together. Not… God, I feel so ripped off. Julie said she could still see you, she didn't want to tell me but didn't think it was fair to keep it from me. Why can't I? Why the fuck can't I? I was a ghost and I can't see you anymore? Just because—just because I have blood in my veins again? You made me feel alive. You brought me back to life. And now I'm in this weird pseudo life phase where I'm actually alive but I feel just like I did when I came back as a ghost. Before I met you."

He shakes his head and Willie takes a step closer. He reaches out, but before he can try to lay a hand on Alex's arm, he remembers. He drops his hand.

"Reg says I'll move on, used that stupid 'you'll never forget your first ghost' line again, but that only worked when we'd known each other for two weeks. Two weeks and I was already moping over you, and then you were taken away after an entire year, after I—after I—it's not fair," Alex huffs. "I sound like such a child but it's not. Julie and Luke got their happy ending. Fuck, even Reg has someone now. Of course it probably won't last—after all it's his third relationship in five months, but. But he has that option. And I—Ray's making us go to school to finish off senior year and this kid from chemistry asked me out but—I'm not ready for that. God, I'm scared I'll never be ready for that. Luke told me to go for it, that maybe I need to be with someone to get my mind off of you, but I know that all I'll do is compare the two of you."

Tears are falling freely from Alex's eyes, and Willie wants nothing more than to reach up and brush them away, just like he did the last time they were at this grave together. He takes the flower from Alex's hand, plucks a petal off, and uses it as a towel to wipe Alex's face dry. Alex tosses his head back and laughs.

"Thank you," he says. He's quiet for a long moment, and Willie thinks he said everything that needed to be said. But then he draws in a deep breath. "I… I think one of the worst parts is that I never got to say goodbye. That I'll never get closure. Did you get as much out of our relationship as I did? Was it worth it to you? Are you hurting, too?" He pauses. His voice drops in to a whisper as he asks, "did you love me like I loved you?"

Willie frowns, and hands the flower back to Alex. Alex wraps his fingers around the stem, and toys with the petals with his other hand.

"See, I don't even know what you're trying to say, here," Alex admits. "I'm hoping you're saying yes, but maybe you're not. What if you're not even Willie, just a kind ghost who noticed I needed someone?" Willie grabs the flower out of Alex's hand, raises it up, and bonks Alex's forehead with it. "Okay, maybe not," he says, and there's a laugh in his voice, but there are tears in his eyes. He laughs then, but it comes out as a sob instead and he stumbles back. "Fuck," he says slowly.

Willie twirls the flower between his fingers and watches as Alex just… stares. He's just staring at the flower, disbelieving.

"I… God, I'm so relieved you're here, but it hurts so bad that I can't see you, you know? But—do you have it any easier? Being able to see me and hear me but knowing I can't see or hear or feel you? I feel like that'd be just as hard. I remember how helpless I felt when I was a ghost. This isn't—this isn't fair. Last year we had eternity together. And—that just gets ripped away? Do you even care—" Willie hits him with the flower again. "—okay. So you do. We both cared. So much. And… now look at us. I'm essentially talking to myself, on the verge of a panic attack, and you're… You're visiting my grave. I'm visiting my grave. Fuck this is all so fucked. I miss you."

Willie hands the flower back to Alex, hoping that he'll pick up that Willie misses him too.

Alex stares at the petals and draws in a breath. "I just wish—"

"Hey, mijo," a new voice comes in. Willie whips around to see the approaching figure, a tall, slim man with greying hair. He recognizes him as Julie's dad, and while he's never directly interacted with the man, hanging around with Alex and the band so much last year meant he could at least pick him out of a crowd. Julie's dad walks up beside Alex and looks down at the head stone. "Wow, that's really you."

Alex laughs. "Yeah. I really died. That's why I come here. To remind myself my entire experience as a ghost wasn't some weird fever dream. That it…" he looks down at the flower and holds it up to Julie's dad. "That it was all real."

"That'd be some fever dream," Julie's dad chuckles, clapping a hand on Alex's shoulder. For a moment, Willie expects the man's hand to pass right through, but when it doesn't, he cringes. Yet another reminder. "Are you ready to go, then?"

"Yeah, thanks for coming to get me. Can I just have one more minute? I'll meet you at the car?"

"Of course, mijo."

Julie's dad walks away and Alex stares at his headstone. "I miss you, Willie. I hope you run into me again," he says with a light in his voice, and Willie is taken back to their very first meeting. He reaches for the flower and takes it from Alex, bopping his face one more time. Then he passes the flower back, and Alex looks at it with wonderment on his face. "Bye," he murmurs, and then turns to walk towards the parked car waiting for him.

Willie waits until Alex slides into the passenger seat and shuts the door before drawing in a shaky breath and poofing away.

(*)

He can't stay away after that.

He knows Alex is living with Julie now (the Molinas, according to the painted stone next to their porch) so he stops by after school hours to just… see him. Alex, of course, has no idea that he's there, at least not at first. But then Willie starts to get bolder.

Alex will be sat at the dining room table doing his homework and Willie will see him answer a calculus problem wrong. When Alex walks away for a snack, Willie will take a piece of notebook paper out and redo the problem(s). When Alex gets back he looks around with a frown. He clearly isn't sure if it's Willie or not, and Willie's not sure he wants him to know, not until a few weeks in when he finds Alex crying in the studio. He's clearly on the verge of a panic attack, something that Willie'd seen many times, and helped him through multiple times. He's never felt so helpless, watching Alex breaking down and not being able to do anything.

He can, though, he realizes.

He goes into Alex's notebook and grabs a pen.

Hey, hot dog.

Alex drags in a shaky breath when the pen starts moving by itself, and once he reads the message he lets out a laugh that sounds more like a sob. "Willie," he whispers.

What can I do to help?

Alex smiles at the paper. "Nothing, you're—you being here helps."

Do you need to do breathing exercises? You can follow the pen.

"No," Alex shakes his head. "No, I'm good. Just—just talk to me?"

Can't talk. How's writing?

He rolls his eyes. "You know what I meant, asshole."

Guilty.

"How have you been? Where have you been? Why is this the first time you're—that you've actually contacted me?"

I've been around. I'd say correcting your calc homework counts as contacting you. It's me saying "wow you suck at math, which you've told me in the past but now I have hardcore proof."

He can't tell him that he's been trying to work out his unfinished business. He can't give Alex hope where there might not be any—not when there's no promise that Willie will figure out his unfinished business, and not when there's no promise he'll come back to life. He wants Alex to know he's trying—trying for him, but it's not fair. None of this is fair, but that'd be… really unfair to Alex. Especially if he's sitting here hoping for Willie to come back to life and one day he realizes it's been months since he's heard from Willie and Willie has no way to tell him that he's crossed over, but not to the living. It's all… it's too complicated. Willie doesn't even think he'd be able to put it into words.

"Hey, I've been doing pretty good in calc!" Alex yells. "I have a B, thanks."

"Thanks." You're welcome. I'm the reason you have a B.

Alex opens his mouth, then shuts it. "You know, you're probably right. You working out those problems is actually really helpful and helps me understand what I did wrong."

I've always needed to see someone do the math before I got it, maybe you're the same.

"Probably." Alex sighs, running his hands through his hair. He's stopped crying, but his face is still red and puffy, and his breathing is still labored. "How have you been though? I… you can see me, I can't see you. Are you okay?"

I miss you, but that's to be expected.  Life  Death has been a lot lately. I'm  surviving  okay though.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Alex asks, voice genuine. Willie bites his lip. God, he—this is why he fell in love with this boy. Even on the verge of a panic attack he wants to help someone else.

No. You being here helps.

"Hey, that's my line."

I'm stealing it.

Alex laughs, and his breath evens out a little bit. "Should have known, you can't be as smooth as me."

I'm sorry, who had the gay panic when we met? And every time we saw each other for literally the next four months? Who RAN AWAY after kissing me? You want to talk about smooth?

"Those were very weak moments in my life, I ask you to forget everything before we started dating and only remember me as charming."

Oh, trust me, the gay panic was very charming, too.

"See, maybe it was all a ploy. My gay panic was me being smooth."

I wouldn't take it that far.

"Too late you already admitted it."

Willie laughs and reaches for Alex's hand, forgetting for just a moment. It passes through the other boy and he grimaces. He draws his hand back and tucks his hair behind his ear, and stares at the paper in front of him.

So what's it like recording an album? Everything you ever dreamed of?

"Oh, man, it's so cool," Alex gushes. Words fly out his mouth so fast that Willie struggles to keep up, but he just lets Alex's voice wash over him. The switch has been flipped—Alex is no longer panicking, and Willie's loneliness has ebbed.

It carries on like this for nearly an hour, Willie fills up two and a half sheets of paper, and Alex is careful to fold each one and stick it in his pocket. Willie knows he'll be storing them somewhere in his room. It's what Willie would do, anyways, and in certain regards, Alex and Willie are very similar. He's careful not to reveal too much to Alex, though. He doesn't want Alex to feel guilty, or to cling to hope, or…

He doesn't want to tell Alex he loves him on a sheet of paper. He can't do that to either of them—that'd be giving Alex too much to cling to, and it'd be taking away Willie's dream of telling him face to face. So when it's time for them to say goodbye (Alex looks at the clock, frowning. "The band is gonna be here in ten minutes for practice.") Willie simply scribbles down I'll see you around, hot dog. Alex's face goes soft, and Willie can't stop staring at it.

He wishes he could stay for band practice, but he can't face Julie. He can't, not when it'd break him to be able to talk with her and not the one person he really wants to talk to. He also thinks it might be too hard on Alex, to see Julie see Willie, and know that he can't. It'd be too hard on both of them, so once Alex says goodbye, he poofs away. He ends up on the streets of Hollywood and looks around. He sets his skateboard on the ground and skates off, aimlessly.

He has nowhere to go, nowhere to be.

(*)

Willie keeps correcting his calc homework, but now Alex knows who it is and starts thanking him. They have a few more half-written, half-spoken conversations over the next few months, but Willie tries to limit them so Alex doesn't get too attached.

(He laughs as he thinks that, understanding that Alex has always been attached, and interacting with him is only encouraging that. But Willie can't stay away, okay?)

He sees Luke and Reggie some, after all, the boys spend a lot of time in the studio together, especially when Julie is hanging out with Flynn. Willie never talks to Alex at these times, but sometimes he'll speak out loud, answer parts of the conversation that the guys are having, even though he knows they can't hear him.

(Yeah, okay, he's dangerously attached, too.)

He avoids Julie at all costs, he doesn't want her to know, and he knows Alex hasn't told any of them because Alex has said he hasn't told any of them, so. Willie believes him and knows why. Because Alex knows Julie would ask Willie to let Alex move on, and… honestly, neither Alex or Willie are ready for that.

"Technically you're still my boyfriend," Alex says one day. "We never broke up."

It's almost our two year anniversary.

"Yeah," Alex nods. "Two more months. God, it's been nine months without you?"

Not technically without me. I've been around a lot.

"It's been nine months since I last saw you," he amends. He rubs his eyes. "That's too damn long."

It's been nine months since I've held your hand. :(

Alex shakes his head. "I always felt bad for Julie and Luke, but… I never… it never clicked how hard it must have been before she could touch us. At least she could see and talk to us, though. Why can't I have her powers?"

Would her powers really be worth it? Because I can tell you that it SUCKS being able to see you but not being able to touch you. It's torture.

"Maybe you only say that because you've never had to sit alone talking to a piece of notebook paper before," Alex shoots back, but he's smiling.

He's been doing that a lot lately. Smiling. Willie knows it's because of him—he knows Alex and it's not hard to put two and two together. It's hard to miss the way Alex physically brightens every time he knows Willie is there, and the way he reaches for calculus homework before anything else, and leaves his calculus out sitting next to him when he's working on all of his other homework, as if calling for Willie. It works, too, most of the time. When Willie's not out trying to resolve his unfinished business, he's around the Molina household, avoiding Julie.

That had created an issue—Alex quickly realized that Willie disappeared whenever Julie came around, so he stopped hanging around Julie as much. Julie had tried apologizing for "whatever I did, Alex, I'm so sorry." Alex had to patiently tell her that it was nothing—he was just dealing with some personal problems and he ran away from the guys, too. She had tried to offer help, but he said he dealt better with problems on his own, which Willie laughed at when Alex recounted the conversation because Alex was helpless dealing with his issues alone. He told him as much and Alex flipped off the air in front of him.

This piece of notebook paper is offended. What's so bad about talking to notebook paper?

"I can't kiss a sheet of notebook paper," Alex points out. "Well—technically I could. Don't think it'd measure up to kissing my boyfriend, though."

Willie grins. It's impossible, and he knows he can't let it go on like this for much longer—it's been nine months of trying to figure out his unfinished business and he feels no closer than when he started—but it feels so good to be Alex's boyfriend still. He puts the pen to the piece of paper, and then picks it back up because—no. He still can't tell Alex he loves him. He's planning to leave Alex a note once it hits a year, telling him goodbye and asking him to move on. He'll be doubling his efforts to try and solve his unfinished business in the mean time, but he thinks—how cruel would it be to leave Alex with the knowledge that he lost someone who loved him, too? Because Alex has said he loved Willie—back Alex's grave he had asked if Willie loved him too and.

You wouldn't be able to kiss air, either.

"I could certainly try."

Willie shakes his head fondly, and then hears the studio door open. Alex lunges forward and grabs the pen out of the air, but it's pointless because when Willie turns around, it's Julie standing there. Her eyes are wide and her jaw is dropped.

"Hey, Julie," Alex greets. "What're you doing?"

"I left a song out here that I wanted to show Flynn," she says. "What are you doing?" She aims her voice like she's talking to Alex, but she's staring at Willie.

"Homework," Alex answers.

"Really?" she quirks an eyebrow.

"What else would I be doing?"

"I don't know, care to tell me?" This time, it's one hundred percent directed at Willie, and he flinches.

Alex frowns, still playing the part. "I don't—"

"Not you," Julie cuts Alex off.

"Julie…" Alex sighs. "Just leave him be."

"Can I talk to you outside?" There's no question who she's talking to.

Willie gets to his feet and walks out the door. Alex glares at her from where he's sitting on the couch, and flops back on to the cushions, crossing his arms in a pout.

Julie turns around and marches out to the driveway and whirls on Willie when he gets out there. "This isn't fair to him."

"None of this is fair, Julie," Willie says. "We're dealing the only way we know how."

"He—he said he was moving on. He said he was doing better!"

"He… technically is doing better," Willie says. "Maybe not moving on, but—"

"Willie, you need to let him go," Julie frowns.

"That's not your choice to make," Alex's voice comes from the studio doors. He pushes the door open and steps out. "I get you want to help, but leaving me and Willie be would be the best thing you could do to help."

"Alex…" Julie whispers. "It's not fair to you."

"You think I don't know that? You think the fact that Willie is dead and I'm alive has escaped my notice? Because it hasn't. I have to talk to a sheet of notebook paper to have a conversation with him. I have to guess when he'll appear, and hope each day that he will. I don't get to see him smile, or look at me, and I can't hold his hand, and I can't feel him against me. But despite that, I'm happy with him. Isn't that what you should be focusing on?"

Julie sucks in a breath. "Alex—"

"Julie," Alex cuts her off. "I understand where you're coming from. The amount of times I told Luke falling for you was a horrible decision, but he reminded me it wasn't a decision. You can't pick and choose who you love, and… I'm willing to go through this for Willie, okay? You can't protect me from everything, and I'd never ask you to. I am asking you to leave this be."

She looks away from Alex, and turns to Willie. "Are you really okay with how this is going?"

"I… For now," Willie answers. "I've been trying to figure out my unfinished business to see if I'll come back to life, too. It's all I've been doing when I'm not with Alex for the last nine months. If I can't figure it out within the year since Alex came back to life I am going to stop this, okay Julie? I don't want him to hurt. I'll tell him to move on, I'll tell him that I can't do it anymore, but until then, I want to be there for him. These may be our last months together," Willie whispers. "Please don't take that from us."

Julie sighs, long and loud, but her shoulders drop. "Fine," she says, throwing her hands up. "Whatever. I—I just don't want you guys hurting."

"If you think Willie being here hurts me, clearly you don't remember you and Luke in the early days."

"I do, though. I remember how much it sucked when I reached out and my hand went right through him. I remember thinking that we could never be together—even once I could touch you guys, it still… sucked. Alex, I do remember the early days, and that's why I just… I just don't want you hurting. And… falling in love with a ghost when you're human… it hurts."

"But it's also worth it," Alex reminds her. "You turned down Nick, even when you couldn't touch Luke. Because you knew it was worth it. Even thinking you were going to lose Luke, you still chose him. And I'm choosing Willie, even though I know I could lose him. Even though it sucks that he's a ghost. Willie is worth it."

Julie looks at Willie. "Is this worth it?"

Willie nods. "I might have to say goodbye soon, but it's not like we're making bad memories. Alex and I won't live to regret the time we had together if this doesn't work out. And it might take us time to move on, but this will never not be worth it."

Julie narrows her eyes. "Does he know?"

"Know? About the unfinished business?" Willie asks. "No. I don't want to get his hopes up."

"Good. Keep it that way."

"Keep what, what way?" Alex demands, looking between Julie and the space of air she's looking at.

"Something I can't tell you," Julie says, still looking at Willie. "Willie wants to keep it quiet, too. Hopefully I can tell you one day, but until that day comes, it's mine and Willie's secret. It's for the better."

"Didn't we just decide you don't know what's best for me?" Alex huffs.

"Not in this case," Willie says.

"Willie says 'not in this case,'" Julie translates. "Just… be careful both of you, alright? You know I love you both, right?"

Alex leans back against the studio door and crosses his arms, frowning. "I know, Jules. I love you, too. And I appreciate your thoughts and wanting me to be okay, but, really. We're fine."

"Yeah," Willie says. "If I can't figure out my unfinished business I'll stop by and say goodbye to you, too."

"Alright," Julie nods. "Let me just grab that song and then you two can get back to your… date."

Willie smiles at her. He can feel on his face that it's not a full smile, that it's sad, and that it's not reaching his eyes, but… he is sad. Vocalizing his plan, to Julie no less, has made it permanent. He really only has three months to figure out his unfinished business.

It doesn't feel like enough time. Looking back to Alex, he knows it's not.

He'll never be ready to say goodbye.

(*)

His time is up.

It's been an entire year, almost to the day (he gave himself one extra week) since Alex came back to life, and Willie is here to leave Alex. He's kneeling next to where Alex is sleeping on the studio's couch, looking so relaxed and content, and Willie… he's glad he prepared beforehand. He pulls the piece of notebook paper out of his pocked and places it on the table, Alex's name in bold pen on the top.

He wrote his note before he came to see Alex, knowing that he won't have the courage to write it down when he's looking at the other boy. Especially not if Alex is watching him. No, that's… he could never do that, not when he could see the look on Alex's face. So, the idea is, in and out, leave the note somewhere for Alex to find, and never look back.

The last part is going to be the hardest.

However, he's promised himself that he won't go looking for Alex or the others anymore. Not after tonight. He's letting Alex move on, but he needs to let himself move on, too. Alex will find someone else to love, and Willie… if nothing else, he should give himself the chance to find someone else to love. Not that he'll ever really feel confident again, knowing that one of them could cross over at any minute, leaving him just as heartbroken as he is now. But… it was worth it with Alex. He can't imagine how it ever wouldn't be worth it, even as he has to say goodbye now. Alex will always be worth it, and he can't be sorry for holding on as long as he did. The time he got to spend with him has given him enough courage to say goodbye… just… there's one more thing he wants to say, that he couldn't say in his note.

"I love you," Willie whispers, reaching down to stroke Alex's hair, but freezing before he could. He's not in the right mindset to have his hand pass through Alex, not again, not right now, when he feels the cramping in his chest from the pain of this moment. Not when it's been over a year and he still hasn't figured out his unfinished business. Not when he doesn't think he ever will. There's so much he's tried, so much he's done, and he's not sure what more there is to do. He's held on to this for far too long, and he thinks it's time to let go. He doesn't want his last memory of Alex to be his hand disappearing through the boy's body. "I'm so sorry I couldn't do better for you."

There's a clench in his stomach as he thinks about all he's gone through this past year. Practicing all the moves he wanted to perfect before he died. Returning to his childhood home and making connections with his family, apologizing for leaving them, apologizing for not being a better son. Visiting his older sister who ran away when he was younger. Tracking down the person who killed him from all of the newspaper articles and forgiving them. Going to his college and sitting in on all of the classes that he skipped out on when he was a student. Going back to Caleb's club and apologizing to all those he led there. Visiting the graves of all of his family members that he never got to say goodbye to. Visiting his grave and forgiving himself for his mistake.

Yet here he stands, still a ghost.

Truthfully, he didn't care if he crossed over to the living or crossed over to heaven. He just… didn't want to be here anymore. In this limbo between the living and the dead. Skating the streets of Hollywood was fun, but with Caleb gone, with the Ghost Club in his past, with Alex living… skating was all he had, and it wasn't enough to hold him to this… "life" that he was living. He just wanted it to be over—he just wanted to move on. He doesn't care what that means anymore. Just… not like this. Not this. He can't be stuck like this for eternity. He can't.

He shoves himself to his feet in a rush and walks to the door, forcing himself to not look back. It's time to move on—time to let Alex move on. Like Alex says, it's not fair, and Willie's just making it harder on both of them. If he hasn't figured out his unfinished business by now, he's not going to. Maybe he already missed his opportunity, maybe it's something that's waiting for him in the future, maybe it's—

Ow.

Willie looks up from where he landed on the floor, and sends a glare at the door. There's a noise from up in the loft and Reggie's laugh sounds through the studio. "Dude, did you just walk into the door? I know you can do dumb things when you just wake up, but come on."

Willie looks up at the loft and blinks.

Wait.

He walked into the door.

"Reggie?" he calls tentatively.

The boy pops his head out of the fence in the loft, jaw dropped. "Willie?"

"You can—you can see me?" Willie breathes, turning around on the floor and looking between Alex and Reggie. Thing one: he couldn't walk through the door. Thing two: Reggie could hear him walk into the door. Thing three: Reggie could see him.

"Alex!" Reggie screeches, throwing a box of picks down from the loft and at the couch. "Alex!"

Alex flinches when the box of picks lands right next to his head and groans. "Dude, what the fuck?" he asks, picking up the box and looking at it. "Why the fuck?"

"I'm sorry, but you're going to love me in a second because sit your butt up and look at the door."

"What are you talking about?" Alex demands as he sits up and rubs at his eyes. He looks up at the loft first, but Reggie's head peaking down at the door must interest him, because Willie looks away from Reggie at the same time Alex does, and their eyes meet. "Willie?" he whispers.

"Alex," he breathes out with a laugh. Alex is up and off the couch and striding towards him in one motion, dropping next to him with a loud thud of his knees hitting the concrete. Willie reaches towards him cautiously. He curls a hand around Alex's face, tracing his cheekbone with his thumb and laughs. "Oh my god."

Alex lunges forward and tackles Willie into a hug, holding him tight as they both start to cry.

"Hold on, hold on!" Reggie wails, footsteps thundering as he rushes down the loft stairs. "Remember, I can't poof out anymore, and I don't want to see what's going to happen next, just give me a minute to—okay, carry on," he finishes, and then the studio door clicks shut and Alex crashes his mouth to Willie's with no hesitance.

Willie gasps, and takes a moment to adjust to the feeling of Alex's mouth on his again, but after a moment, he pushes back into Alex and gives back as good as he's getting. It's easy to fall back into this, really. It's not like Willie forgot how Alex kisses, and he highly doubts Alex has forgotten how Willie kisses, so it's easy for the two of them to give and take, to push and pull. There's no learning involved, just coming home.

Alex's breath hitches and he pulls away quickly, shoving his face into Willie's neck. "Oh my god," Willie hears him whisper. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. Please tell me I'm not dreaming?" he begs.

"You're not dreaming," Willie grins, holding Alex tighter.

"Yeah, but that's something dream you would say," Alex says, pulling away from Willie's neck and looking into his eyes. Alex's eyes are red and the area around them is swelling, and Willie swears he's never looked more beautiful. He lifts a hand and cups Alex's face. "Punch me."

"Wh—babe, no," he laughs, wiping the tears from Alex's face. "Punch yourself."

He's not expecting Alex to pull back and smash his fist into his forearm. "That wasn't hard enough, you've gotta—wait. My knees. The concrete hurt them. Can you dream pain? Is that a thing? Oh my god, I don't know enough about dreams, I—"

"Alex," Willie murmurs, leaning forward. "You're not dreaming. You've always trusted me, yeah? Trust me now." He presses his lips gently to Alex's, and feels Alex's lips quirk up in a smile.

He pulls back. "If I wake up from this you're so dead."

"Well, technically, if this was a dream, you'd be completely right. But right now I'm so alive." Willie pauses. "I think? I couldn't walk through the door and now you guys can see me and touch me and—"

Alex cuts him off with a kiss. After a few seconds he releases Willie's lips and sits back and closes a hand around Willie's wrist, pressing two fingers to where Willie's pulse point would be. Alex stares at his hand in amazement, and another smile spreads on his face. "You're alive."

"I am?" he asks, breathless.

"Yes, dude. What was? What was your unfinished business?"

"I don't—I don't know. The last thing I did was visit you. I've been trying to figure it out for the last year but nothing worked. Then… Wait."

"What?"

Willie feels blood rush to his face and wow isn't that a feeling. But, no. Not the point right now. He twists his wrist in Alex's hold and slips his hand down to hold Alex's. "The last thing I did was, um, tell you I love you."

"Falling in love was your unfinished business?"

"No," Willie shakes his head. "Otherwise I would have come back like, two years ago. Unless—did I really have to say it?"

"Unfinished business is weird, we were technically signed with Destiny Management for two months before we actually signed the papers, but I didn't actually come back until I signed the legit contract," Alex explains. He smiles at Willie, and then his expression drops. "Wait. You're in love with me?"

Willie feels his face soften. "I've been in love with you."

"Was it—was it you at my grave? A few months ago I—I know I could have asked you when you started writing to me but I was so scared—"

"It was me," Willie nods. "I can't believe you tried to suggest I didn't care—"

"I didn't—I couldn't—I just—everything sucked, I was doubting everything and the further I got away from you the more I was convinced that you didn't feel the same. I mean, you hadn't come to visit once—"

"I saw you at the skate park before that." He squeezes Alex hand. He lifts up their entwined fingers and presses a kiss to the back of Alex's hand. "You looked… you were so sad, and it hurt so much to talk to you. At first I thought it was better for both of us if I didn't… encourage it. I lost that plan, though. I was trying to figure out my unfinished business but I just wanted you to be happy."

"You make me happy."

Willie grins. "You make me happy too, hot dog."

Alex blushes and goes back to hiding his face in Willie's shoulder.

"Hey, have you tried hot dogs since you came back to life?"

"No," Alex laughs, then moves his head up to press a kiss to Willie's collarbone. He leans back, away from Willie's body so he can look him in the eyes. "I don't think I ever will."

"Yeah, well I'm stopping at every cross walk, even if the walk sign is on," Willie says. "What kills you makes you reevaluate your life choices."

"What kills you makes you smarter," Alex grins.

"Then why did you need me to help you pass calculus?" Willie teases.

Alex rolls his eyes and shoves at Willie, who reaches forward to grab Alex's bicep to stabilize him. "What are you doing here, man? You haven't been here in almost a month. I've been waiting for you."

Willie bites his lip and looks at the ground. "I was here to say goodbye. I gave myself one year to figure out my unfinished business and then I'd let us both move on. That—that's what I told Julie that night. That's what you couldn't know."

Alex breathes out, staring at Willie without blinking. His eyes start filling with tears and he lets out a mirthless laugh. "Well thank fuck you decided to tell me you loved me."

"Yeah," Willie nods. "Thank fuck."

(*)

They walk into the Molina household hand in hand, Alex murmuring things along the way, and Willie just listening, but mostly reveling in the feel of Alex's hand in his again.

"Ah, mijo!" Julie's dad exclaims happily. "Just in time, I was about to send Reggie out—who's this?"

Alex shifts, squeezes Willie's hand, and draws in a breath. "Ray, this is Willie. He's—do you remember how we told you I was dating a ghost before I came back to life?"

Ray (apparently) nods. "I do."

"This is him."

Ray's eyes narrow. "He came back to life, too?"

"He did. And he doesn't have anywhere to go right now, could he stay, at least in the studio? We'll find his family soon, but—"

"Alex," Ray cuts the boy off. "Of course." He looks to Willie. "Do you like tacos?"

Willie nods slowly. "Yes, sir."

Ray shakes his head. "None of that 'sir' stuff, Willie. Just Ray works. Let me go find another chair, and you can join us for dinner, bueno?"

"I—thank you," Willie says, genuinely taken aback by Ray's openness.

"Alright, the rest of the family is in the dining room, why don't you two go join them, I'm just going to grab a chair out of my office," he tells them, and then disappears around the corner.

Alex squeezes Willie's hand and smiles down at him. "Ready?"

Willie laughs. "For what?"

Alex grins and walks forward, tugging Willie along behind him. They walk through the kitchen and Willie can see the entire group as they make their way to the table—Julie's little brother (Carlos, he thinks) is sitting at the head of the table, talking rapidly with Reggie, who is sitting with his back to Willie and Alex. Julie's friend (Flynn, he's sure of that one) is sitting next to Reggie and he can tell from her posture that she's bent over her phone. Beside her, there's an open chair squeezed into the small space which Willie assumes is meant for Alex. Across the table, with their heads ducked together and talking in quiet tones are Julie and Luke, completely unaware to their presence. At least until Alex clears his throat.

Everyone looks at them, then. Reggie and Flynn turn in their seats, and Julie and Luke look up, confused. Carlos stares at Willie with a calculating look, and—

"Oh my god!" Julie screeches, shoving out of her chair so fast that she knocks it back into the window. She runs around the table and into the kitchen before launching herself at Willie. "You did it!"

Willie laughs but once Alex drops his hand, he holds on to her tightly. Despite being able to interact with her face to face for the last two and a half years, he's never got to touch her. She became one of his closest friends, but he'd never been able to give her a hug, and they're both tactile people. The entire group is, really. So he squeezes her tighter and breathes in her scent and savors in the feeling of being hugged by her. "I did," he says into her hair. "Thank you for giving me the chance."

"Of course," she says as she pulls away, but her hands don't leave him, just slide down to hold on to his forearms. "What was it?"

Alex grins from next to Willie and leans in to Julie's view. "He had to tell me he loved me."

"It took you guys two years to say I love you?" Luke says, and Willie notices him standing a few feet behind Julie. "Dude—"

"Not all of us say 'I love you' after the first date, Luke," Alex shoots back.

"But two years?"

"We were separated for one of those."

"But two years?"

"Leave them be," Julie tells him, finally dropping Willie's arms and spinning around to face her boyfriend. "It still took you months to work up the courage to ask me out. Willie asked Alex out as soon as he was free from Caleb." Willie wants to tell her that Alex had actually kissed him and ran away before Willie asked the boy out, but with a glance at Alex, who was glaring at him knowingly, he decides to save the story for another time. "At least they've got that sorted out."

Luke rolls his eyes and steps around Julie to clap a hand into Willie's. He bumps their shoulders together and grins, a trademark lopsided Luke grin. "I'm glad to see you, man."

"Me too!" Reggie cries from in back of the group. "Sorry I ran out of the studio on you guys, but I didn't—"

"You knew?" Julie gasps.

"Well, yeah? Why'd you think I ran in from the studio?"

"Considering you grabbed food, we thought you wanted a snack," Flynn says, and Reggie looks like he's considering her words before he shrugs. She turns to Willie. "I'm Flynn. Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

"Same," Willie says, leaning forward to shake her hand. "We've technically met, but you never got to see me."

"So you were a ghost, too?" Carlos calls from where he's still sitting at the dining room table. Ray is sitting at the other end now, too, having squeezed in another chair on the side where Julie and Luke had been sitting. It was a wheelie computer chair and as soon as Flynn saw it she dove for it with a cry of 'dibs,' sending her and the chair flying back into the wall.

"I was," Willie confirms, following the rest of the group as they make their way back to the dining room.

"Cool," Carlos breathes.

"Yeah, super cool," Julie rolls her eyes, ruffling her brother's hair. "Dying is so cool."

"Hey, he's alive again," Carlos shoots back. "So I can say it's cool."

"Can't argue that logic," Reggie grins.

"I also agree it's cool," Alex says, and sends Willie a soft smile.

"Yeah, yeah, we know, you're happy to have your boyfriend back," Flynn waves her hand through the air as she scooches back to the table. "But can we get to the tacos now?"

"I hope you like tacos," Luke says, reaching for a hard shell with one hand and the taco meat with the other. "Because they're gonna be your first taste of food in—wait, when did you die?"

"Seven, eight years ago. 2015."

"How old are you?" Julie asks.

"With or without the ghost years?"

"Without. That's what's going on your birth certificate."

"I was a month shy of turning twenty. I was born a month before you three," he says, nodding at each of the boys individually, "died in '95."

"It's a good thing we died, then," Alex says, waiting patiently for the rest of the table to make their tacos before he makes his own. "Never would have met you, otherwise. Or if I did…"

"We don't think about that," Luke says. "Otherwise we have to talk about how much older I am that Julie and that—that doesn't work."

"How much older than Julie are you?" Carlos asks.

Luke turns a mock glare on the kid. "Did you not hear what I just said? We don't think about that."

Reggie leans towards Carlos and stage whispers, "twenty six years."

Carlos looks absolutely gleeful. "Ha! Dad, did you know that?"

Ray sighs. "I did, Carlos. Eat your food."

"You're old," Carlos hisses at Luke.

"You're a child," Luke taunts back. Even through their tones, Willie can tell this group is a family. Luke is Carlos' older sister's boyfriend, yes, but his role as a pseudo brother to Carlos is just as important as his role as Julie's boyfriend. Reggie clearly adores the kid and Willie's sure their relationship is even closer than that of Carlos and Luke's. He looks at Alex, who is looking down the table at Carlos with fond eyes, and realizes that even Alex is this kid's brother. Alex is Julie's brother. He's Ray's son. He's not just living here, he's a piece of this family, and Willie is at a meet the family dinner, even if he already knew more than half of them. His eyes flick to Ray and suddenly he wants to make a good impression.

Alex must be able to feel him tense up, so he reaches over and lays a hand on Willie's thigh. He leans in. "What's wrong?"

Willie looks at him, looks around the table again, and settles on Ray again, who is giving him a look that's nearly as concerned as the one on Alex's face.

It's been ten minutes and he thinks he's a part of this family, too.

He smiles at Ray, who returns it, and then Willie turns to Alex. "Nothing. I'm good. But hey, I love you."

Alex smiles. He presses a kiss to Willie's cheek. "I love you, too."

[sleepless-rain]

Karasuno studies! – View from the third years (part 1) –

Translator: Leo | Sleepless-rain | Leoppii Editor: Troy Esaki | Kahluaplusmilk Part 1 | Part 2 | part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

The two that appeared from the classroom 3-4 were Sawamura Daichi and Sugawara Koushi. 

“Seems like it’s going to snow tonight.”

“Seriously!?”

The two chatted while making their way down the halls. Upon seeing a dark figure in a corner they stopped in their tracks, surprised.

“Wha--!”

“…Wait it’s just Asahi. What are you doing here?”

 TRANSLATORS NOTE:

 Please do NOT repost this translation ANYWHERE. If I see the whole thing elsewhere I will stop translating novel chapters and delete all chapter translations I have done. Sharing small snippets are okay but not the whole thing. Please link back to this Tumblr post if you want to share it.

     Asahi looked over at the startled two apologetically, “H-hey…”

He approached them timidly and both of them didn’t hold back, “What do you mean ‘Hey’. You scared me!”

“What are you doing glooming up the place? I thought I found a portal to an extraterrestrial world!”

Sawamura turned to look at Sugawara, “What do you even mean by that?”

“I don’t know, it just seemed like the air was warping…”

“You talking about that distorting black fog?”

“Yeah! That!”

Azumane spoke to cut through their pointless conversation, “….How’d you guys do? For the standardized tests, I mean.*"

 Standardized tests.

 This was about the standardized tests from yesterday. Sugawara and Sawamura, who were in the advanced classes, looked at one another.

“Huh… well, I guess normal?”

“Yeah… not too good but not too bad, just normal.”

Upon hearing their answers Azumane’s expression darkened, “…doesn’t that mean you both did well? We’re at club practice every day… how, when, do you even study..?” The giant bent over lamenting, “I could not do well in the test…” he reported formally.

“How about… we head to the clubroom first?” 

“Let’s do that.”

Exchanging glances the captain and vice-captain of the volleyball club took the ace by the arms.

                                                                     ***

 “Ways to study, huh…”

When asked for some study methods by Azumane, Sawamura sat down in a chair, nodding in thought.

When it came to term tests, which were made by the teachers themselves, listening closely to what they said during classes was important. Then just before the test, you had to make sure to look at your notes and revise the main points. Beyond that, there wasn't any particular way to study. That being said, what's done is done so telling Azumane to "listen closely" now would be a bit pointless.

“Let’s see…” Sawamura crossed his arms and thought, “If I had to say something… it would be that I move around while I study.”

“What do you mean by ‘move around’? You mean like while you’re muscle training or something?”

Sugawara, who was changing looked over, “I saw on TV that an actor walked around while memorising their lines. Don’t remember who it was though.” he piped.

“No, not quite like that.” Sawamura began, “Like, when I’m vacuuming?”

Upon hearing the captain’s words, Azumane and Sugawara’s eyes grew big.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Do you write test questions on the vacuum cleaner or something!?”

“Or you write questions on rubbish and vacuum it up when you’ve solved it?”

“What are you talking about, Asahi?”

“You know, like when you eat the page of the dictionary once you’ve memorised it, that.”

“What on earth. Treat your body and dictionaries with respect, Asahi!”

“It’s not like I actually do that! Hey, ouch! Don’t punch my stomach!”

Watching the two getting carried away with their extreme study methods, Sawamura scratched his head, "No, that's not it. It's nothing amazing, just when I vacuum the clubroom I try to remember English grammar and phrases. That's all."

“Huh? Sorry, come again, I don’t quite understand.”

Sawamura directed his explanation at Sugawara who had finished changing and was sitting on the floor, “So, for example: ‘I soon as I clean*’”

“Becomes ‘As soon as I clean’, right?” Sugawara, being a current entrance exam taking student, replied reflexively.

“That’s right!” laughed Sawamura who continued, “‘I am ready to move my desk*’.”

“Ready to move… is ‘be ready to’ …so “I am ready to move my desk”. Is that right?”

“I think so.” Sawamura nodded and Sugawara’s eyes lit up.

“This is so neat! I’m going to start doing on-the-spot drills!”

“It’s great right? Go ahead!” 

When Sawamura replied proudly Azumane sighed, “That doesn’t have to be when you’re cleaning though.”

 “Now that you mention it, you’re right.” Sawamura rested his elbows on the table, seriously considering an alternative before clapping his hands together, “How about you do it while solving math problems? You can study both English and math at the same time! Like one rock two birds*.”

Sugawara cut in immediately to scrap the idea, “Better quit before you end up studying neither of them. That being said doesn’t that last part seem like something Hinata would say?”

“Totally. I can see it all the way to the point where he can’t think of a name for his super move. ” Azumane laughed jokingly, “He’d be muttering to himself… ‘twin …..bird…..?’ or something like that.”

“He’d be making such a ridiculously serious face too!”

Watching Azumane and Sugawara rolling on the floor laughing, Sawamura stood up.

“What? What is it with you two? It’s just that I read somewhere that Marie Curie would solve math problems when she was tired from her experiments, just for a change of pace.”

“But that wasn’t particularly while she was doing her experiments though.”

“Cleaning. Just study while cleaning. You know, being a guy that can do house chores scores a lot of points. ”

“R-really? But… what kind of points are you talking about?”

                                                                 ***

 While the third years were getting fired up inside talking about study methods there was a first-year listening intently outside.

“Me… and the captain… the same? Does that mean… I could be captain? Has my time.... finally come?!”

It was Hinata Shoyou.

And he was making a ridiculously serious face.

   TRANSLATION NOTES:

Standardized test: every six months there’s a test all students in Japan take which compares the overall performance of students between schools. These are really serious and can sometimes contain questions that are unexpected.

As soon as I clean: This was basically in Japanese and then the answer again in English. I have no other way of translating since Daichi’s translation is 10/10 correct.

I am ready to move my desk: Same deal here

One rock two birds: In the original Japanese text it says 一石二鳥, “One rock, two birds” which is basically “killing two birds with the one stone” but this is of English origin and apparently the proper, non-childish Japanese is 一挙両得 “One attempt and you will attain both”.

As a small disclaimer:  I have taken some liberties in translation to make the novel read smoothly. So please don’t quote specific words as canon. That being said I tried my best to stay faithful to the original.  For this reason I will not allow translations into another language using this as the base text. I apologise to anyone who is keen on sharing it in another language but please do so using the original Japanese text.

Anyway, if you enjoyed this chapter please consider supporting Haikyuu and buying a copy of this novel (volume 11) ! I may consider doing more novel translations in the future!

 I do have a Ko-fi so if you do feel like it, please donate!

[elyreywrites]

do you know who you are?

a fic written for Pride Month 2020!! (yes, i know pride month is over, but i posted this on AO3 on June 30th so.) this is a projection fic. it’s not an exact projection of my experience, nor is it meant to be a generalized representation. this isn’t everyone’s experience.

warnings: slight mention of Jack and Janet Drake potentially being homophobic, and discussion of compulsory heterosexuality

thank you to my betas in the Capes & Coffee Discord - Bumpkin, ZulieTheProgrammer, and Oceans!!

title is from Moana’s “I am Moana”!

please REBLOG - DO NOT REPOST

AO3 Link

Teen 1,678 words Bart Allen & Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent slight one-sided Tim Drake/Jason Todd - as in, tiny-Tim has a crush on Robin-Jason

Summary:

He’s twelve and watching Robin fight. He’s seventeen and staring up at the ceiling. He’s nineteen and text-spamming his best friends.

Tim’s growing up and finding himself, and he would really appreciate if the Realizations didn’t happen when he’s trying to sleep. Kon and Bart would probably appreciate that as well.

- - - - -

It starts as he’s watching the second Robin knock out some muggers. It’s not the first time Tim has seen Jason’s Robin take down a group of criminals, but it’s the first time that he nearly gives himself away as he squeaks.

 Jason’s so strong, and cool, and pretty, and – oh. Ah. Okay.

He calls it a night at that, bright red from the questions that are swimming around in his head. He spends most of the trip home lost in thought. When he’s sitting on his bed, one of his best pictures of Jason’s Robin sitting in front of him, he gives them a voice. Talking usually helps him get his thoughts in order. “Okay,” he whispers, “do I like boys?” He doesn’t dislike them – not at all. But does he like them? Maybe, but… how is he supposed to know? “Is that too big of a topic?” he wonders aloud to the picture. “Let’s start with this: Do I like Robin? Jason-Robin.”

That doesn’t turn his brain into a jumbled mess like the previous question did. Of course he likes Jason-Robin. He’s absolutely amazing, protecting people and checking on the working girls and kicking criminal ass! He’s only a couple years older than Tim is, but he does so much more! And he’s real in a way Dick isn’t.

Jason’s just a kid like Tim, though they have such different backgrounds. Dick was a trained acrobat, with skills Tim never really believed he could learn. Jason seemed closer. He was still more amazing than Tim could ever hope to be, but it wasn’t an entirely impossible stretch like it was with Dick.

“And he’s so passionate, especially when it’s a kid that’s in danger. And every time he smiles, it just makes me so happy that I kind of want to giggle and—” Tim stops babbling. He doesn’t need to anymore, after basically answering his own question. Yes, he does like Jason Todd, the current Robin. As in, he has a crush on him. Tim falls back on his bed to stare up at the ceiling.

“Well,” he says, “that explains the weird, squirmy feeling I get in my stomach every time I imagine talking to him.” That feeling is always accompanied by a fierce blush and Tim hiding his face for a good two minutes. He thinks he probably should have caught on sooner. Deciding that was enough Realizing Things for the night, Tim quickly locks the picture of Robin up with the rest and collapses on his bed to sleep.

The next day – a Saturday, which is Mrs. Mac’s day off – Tim hops on the computer and starts researching. He has a crush on one boy, but Tim still thinks girls can be cool. Batgirl is pretty awesome, after all! After a few hours and a lot of new information, he settles back on his bed again. He’s bisexual, and sexuality can apparently be really fluid. In all honesty, it didn’t take him hours to find the term, he just fell into a rabbit hole of researching sexual orientation and gender identities. Tim’s fairly secure in his gender, but he’s glad to have learned. It’s something to keep in mind about other people – to not assume anything based on appearances.

He’s bisexual, with a crush on a boy, and his parents will still expect him to only date girls. At least the boy was Robin and completely unattainable.

- - -

Years later, Tim is laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling once again. It’s a different bed by now, in his own apartment at seventeen. The thing is, he’s pretty sure he has no interest in romance. And now his brain was mixing everything up in a tangle of thoughts and feelings again.

“Holding hands is nice,” he admits. “I like cuddling. That was fine.” He hasn’t gone further than making out with anyone, so that’s about the limit of his physical experience. It’s the implication of emotions that makes him want to skitter away. Specifically, emotions of the romantic variety. Now Tim’s reassessing every romantic relationship he’s had, though he’s only ever dated women.

At the time, he had thought he was happy while in each relationship, but… it’s becoming much more likely that it’s because he was previously starved for affection. He suddenly got that affection while dating someone. That thought makes him want to hide from everyone he’s ever dated. Stephanie is the only one he really still has to see, and that has him burrowing under his blankets.

It sounds awful, honestly. Like he was using the relationship to get the affection he so desperately wanted. Logically, he might be overthinking this. He just wishes his dumb brain would tell that to his anxiety and the ingrained societal expectations. “I didn’t mean to,” he mumbled into the blankets.

Romance, dating, being happy in a relationship? He has no other experiences to reference! He didn’t know that something wasn’t right.

Hell, he’s only having this Realization because a woman was flirting with him at a gala and asked if he would like to get dinner together sometime. A romantic dinner date with a woman he wasn’t close to. The entire scenario would be romance with no physical affection, and that didn’t sound pleasant in the slightest. It did, however, make him realize that he might need to think things through again.

So, here he is. Thinking things through. No romance – if he’s remembering his research correctly, the term is ‘aromantic’, similar to ‘asexual’. Asexuality was something he’d heard more about over the years, but he rarely heard of aromanticism. It had just stuck out because while the terms were similar, their meanings were pretty different.

Now he’s glad it stuck in his mind. It gives him less reason to panic about being confused. So, he was bisexual and aromantic. That’s fine! He’s a vigilante, romantic relationships would be difficult anyway.

- - -

A year and a half later, Tim’s fingers fly across the screen of his phone, sending text after text without waiting for a response. Either his friends would wake up or they wouldn’t. Hopefully they would.

Tim: Oh my god. Guys, wake up, I’m an idiot. Bart, Kon, please. I’m so dumb. How the hell am I this oblivious? I’m not bi-aro at all. I’m just fucking gay. It’s 5 am and I can’t sleep, and I just want a boyfriend. I want to do couple things, like cuddle up while watching movies.

Clone Trooper: dude, it’s the middle of the night. why do you do this to us?

Tim feels no sympathy for his friends – he’s been running on less than six hours of sleep for years. Sometimes less than four hours. High school and vigilantism don’t mix well. Anyway, they can deal with waking up to deal with his Realization.

Sonic: bro we cuddle up when we watch movies are we not good enough for you anymore

Tim: Yeah, but that’s platonic, Bart. And yes, I’m aware of the time. I’d like to be asleep too, but I’m lonely and sad and having Realizations! Suffer with me.

Clone Trooper: … suffer how? are you expecting us to have an existential crisis too, or is this just suffering by being awake?

Tim: Being awake. It’s not an existential crisis, it’s just a Realization.

Sonic: its the middle of the night i think it can be deemed an existential crisis

Tim: But seriously, someone please tell me how I jumped passed the logical conclusion I should have come to of “I’m just not attracted to women” and directly to “I have no interest in romance at all”? How did that make sense to me?

Sonic: society conditioned u to like women

Tim blinks at his screen. Bart isn’t wrong, but Tim has absolutely no idea where he’s going with that. He already had the Realization about societal conditioning, thanks.

Tim: Okay? I’m aware, but I’m not sure how that translates to how I didn’t think of the logical conclusion.

Sonic: dude. for years it was a fact – since you were a kid u were so conditioned that u should like women it was just a fact

Clone Trooper: think of it like this, tim: as far as you knew, you liked women. later, you figured out you like guys, but you still think you like women too.

Tim: We’ve established, yeah.

Clone Trooper: so, suddenly something is weird. the only really new thing is that there is romance involved. so that’s clearly gotta be the issue.

Oh. He stares so long the screen goes dark. He drops his phone on the bed and stares up at the ceiling, turning that over in his head. So. He jumped to not wanting romance because it was so deeply ingrained that he was supposed to like women? His exhausted brain seems to accept this explanation enough to calm the edge of self-recriminations.

Tim: That. Makes sense, I guess. But still, it really seems like I should’ve realized a while ago. Also, I’m kind of surprised that you aren’t teasing me for being oblivious.

Sonic: oh thats coming but teasing is saved for when u arent having a crisis

Clone Trooper: later, we’ll absolutely laugh about that jump in logic. but right now it’s too early and you’re already having A Time.

He’s not sure if he has wonderful friends or terrible friends. Tim suspects that he’s still going to hear about this in a few years. It’s the kind of thing they won’t let die for a while.

Tim: Fair enough.

Clone Trooper: great, glad we got that cleared up! now tim...

Tim: What?

Clone Trooper: please. GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP.

Snickering, Tim plugs his phone in and smothers his face in the pillow. He’s still lonely and he still wants to analyze every missed evidence over the years, but he’s also exhausted. The chat with his friends did get his brain to shut up enough that he might actually be able to sleep. He can rethink his entire life again after he wakes up.

[hyuckles-chuckles]

daisies — l. mark

at a party mark plays a song for you, but only for something else in return.

pairing ; mark lee x reader

other character(s) ; mentions of lee haechan

genre ; fluff, friends-to-lovers!au · word count ; 0.7k · rating ; g

request ; “mark lee + 7 : ‘can you stay with me?’ + 10 : ‘play me a song.’” by @marculees!

inspiration ; mark’s cover of hearts don’t break round here by ed sheeran (mark’s cover down below!!)

masterlist ; 1 year of adobe

a/n ; this! is! the! cutest!! i loved writing this uwu~~

daisies is copyright 2019 hyuckles-chuckles, all rights reserved.

You sat in the middle of a hill in reach of your friends who were scattered at the bottom of it. It was your friend Haechan’s birthday today and he insisted that you all drive up to a mountain, climb it and find a nice area to have a picnic and such.

When a game of touch football was announced to be played, you quickly left the situation and found a nice place on the hill to watch your friends play ball.

It was a very nice field to be at; flowers decorated the ground, trees scattered around the area leaving the right amount of shade and the right amount of sunshine to peer into the field part where it was a pleasant warm. It felt like a movie.

When the game was about to start you felt a person sit next to you.

“May I sit here?” Mark asked you.

“Yeah,” you said as you looked at the guitar that he brought with him.

How could you say no to him? You’re head over heels for him, if only he could see the hints that you had been dropping for him.

“How come you’re not playing football with everyone?” you asked.

Mark clutched the neck of his guitar and held it fondly. “I can’t leave my baby alone,” he chuckled.

“You could always leave it with me,” you offered.

“Okay,” Mark said as he handed you his guitar and slowly got up.

“Wait, no!” you exclaimed to a standing Mark. “Can you stay with me?”

Mark laughed as he sat back down. “Of course I will, I was just joking.”

He took his guitar back as he started to aimlessly strum some chords on the guitar.

“You bring that guitar with you everywhere, huh?” you asked as you stretched out your legs and leaned back on your arms.

“I try,” Mark answered. “My I.T. teacher insists that I don’t bring it to class, which is rude.”

“So, I’m guessing you know a lot of songs then,” you brought up.

“I know at least five songs,” he exaggerated, trying to make a joke.

“Then could you play me a song?” you asked him, hoping he would say yes.

“Of course I could,” Mark said, smiling slightly at your question.

He thought a bit for a song to play before he got up. “I’ll be back! I thought of a prop!”

A prop? Why would he need a prop? you wondered.

When Mark returned he placed a flower crown on your head.

“Seriously?” you giggled as you pointed towards your head.

Mark hushed you as he started to play the introduction to the song he thought of for you.

“Daisies,” he started to sing with his beautiful singing as he strummed the strings on his guitar.

“Daisies perched upon your forehead,” he sang with a wink as he motioned to the flower crown atop your head.

“There aren’t any daisies on this,” you whispered teasingly.

But Mark didn’t miss a beat, he just carried on singing — as if he didn’t hear you. “Oh my baby, lately I know.”

At the word baby leaving his mouth you looked to your lap so that Mark couldn’t see the grin spread across your face. Why had he chosen this song?

“That every night I'll kiss you, you'll say in my ear, ‘Oh we're in love aren't we?’ Hands in your hair, fingers and thumbs baby.”

He ended the song there with a few chords.

“Did you enjoy the concert?” Mark asked when he was done, setting his guitar next to him.

“Yes I did, thank you it was lovely,” you shyly said, hands fiddling in your lap.

“Just don’t expect any more for free,” Mark told you.

“Why not?” you whined, looking up to him once more. “I’m a student, you know we don’t have money.”

He laughed shyly. “You don’t have to pay in money; you can pay in kisses and going on dates with me and such.”

You were shocked to say the least. You couldn’t believe he was kind of asking you out on a date.

“I mean, yeah. If you want those things then sure. Start strumming!” you exclaimed as you laid down on your back to watch the sky.

“Nuh uh,” Mark pouted as he pointed to his cheek. “You got to put in a deposit first.”

You got up from your laying position to quickly kiss Mark on the cheek, paying your deposit for the songs he was about to play.

And you can bet that Mark was going to have you kiss his cheek in return for his playing every time you asked him to play you a song.

if you are seeing this before the 14th of march 2019 and would like to participate, the link to my drabble list is in my bio and you can go into my ask box to request something!

© hyuckles-chuckles, 2019. please don’t copy or repost without permission.

[jeidafei]

D.Gray-Man Vol.26: Komui’s Lounge (Extended) 4/5

>> Part 1 <<

>> Part 2 <<

>> Part 3 <<

Question 20: How many types of headphones does Marie have? And do they function differently?

Marie: Now I only have the latest model the Science Division developed for me. I keep it on at all times except when I go to bed.

Bak: I’ve contributed to the design as well. (ahem)

Marie: Did you? Thank you, Supervisor. 

Lavi: But you’ll hear countless noises and voices from a considerable range all the time, right? Isn’t that exhausting? 

Wisely: What!? You’re able to hear that much!? Where’s the respect for privacy?

Allen: Shut up about privacy, you.

Marie: Well, it was rough before I got used to it. I trained myself to listen for only important sounds from among countless noises. I’ve come to the point where everyday noises from people doing their chores and talking mostly just flow right by me, and since then I haven’t been “listening in” on anyone. 

Link: Aha. You really are a true man of character, Noise Marie. You’d better take notes, Walker.

Allen: How did this come to me?

Link: Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how you threatened me with Timcanpy’s recordings.

(T/N: I don’t remember where the omake in which this happened is, but it was the recording of Link when Timothy possessed him on the Louvre’s roof and made all those funny faces and slobbering in the Phantom Thief G arc.)

Question 21: I’m curious about the length of time Krory can maintain his enhanced capabilities and the amount of Akuma blood needed. And also whether it is possible to extend his activation time by training, etc.

Bak: As of now he can drink blood from Akuma up to Level Three, and can stay activated for 10 minutes with 250ml of blood. Looks like he’s also experimenting to extend that time with support from the Science Division. 

Lavi: Wouldn’t drinking more blood extend the activation time?

Bak: No, it wouldn’t. On the other hand, drinking less than 250ml will shorten the activation time to around 3 minutes.

Marie: When you said he can drink blood from Akuma up to Level Three, is it because he hasn’t experimented with blood from a Level Four yet?

Bak: Well, since obtaining blood from a Level Four is next to impossible...

Wisely: Ho ho ho. Indeed, indeed ♪.

Allen: Seeing Krory enjoying Akuma blood that much really does make you wonder whether it really is delicious, after all.

Link: Don’t try it out, Walker.

Question 22: Does Miranda always carry sweets with her while on a mission? And does she have a favorite flavor?

Link: I’ve heard that since her Innocence requires stamina, she’s come to carrying sweets at all times to supplement her calories, but about the flavor...

Marie: Miranda said she likes minty flavors.

Allen: Are you sure? Miss Miranda always gives me sweets whenever my stomach starts growling, and they’re always fruity flavors like strawberry or pineapple.

Lavi: That’s just coz you like fruit-flavored candies, isn’t it, Allen?

Marie: Haha. So she’s packing fruity candies just for you as well, huh.

Allen: Eh!? Is that so!?

Bak: By the way, whenever Lou Fa learns you’re coming to our branch, she’d always prepare Mitarashi dumplings, Walker.

Allen: Eh!? Now that you mention it, there really did seem to be Mitarashi dumplings around whenever I go to the Asian Branch.

Wisely: What!? If you really loved eating that much, then why didn’t you accept Tikky’s invitation to feast back then?

Allen: It’s not feasting that I have a problem with; it’s that Curly-Head. He’s the very man who tore a hole in my heart, have you forgotten? Do you expect me to enjoy a meal with such a groping pervert?

(T/N: Er, Allen...I think your point is a little off here...)

Link: So you won’t let your appetite win in that case, Walker?

Allen: Yes?

Link: Nothing. That’s a relief. 

Question 23: So before Lavi became an Exorcist, he fought with a dagger?

Lavi: Eh? What’s this?

Wisely: They’re probably talking about that time back in the Ark. When you were in Road’s dream, remember?

Lavi: Ohhhh, so that was it. Wait, how come you know about that?

Wisely: La-de-dah♪

Marie: Lavi’s an all-rounder, like Bookman, right?

Allen: What on earth is that?

Marie: Those who can make use of any weapon depending on the situation.

Lavi: That’s because as Bookmen, virtually all our logs are of war zones. So Gramps trained me to be capable of handling any situation, and that training also includes martial arts.

Link: What are you most skilled with?

Lavi: Hmmmm. I like cudgels best, I guess.

Allen: You’re always fooling about whenever we duel-train, Lavi, and I’ve been thinking perhaps you’re no good. Kanda beats you in a blink, you see. 

Lavi: Aaaawwww. Come on! It’s such a pain to fight seriously!

Bak: But back then, when you were dueling with Fō, you seemed quite serious, though.

Lavi: I wouldn’t call that a duel; Fō was coming at me like she’s dying to kill me, damn her. How could I not take it seriously!?

Allen: Yeah, Fō does mean it when she fights, doesn’t she. 

Bak: She’s more a berserker than a guardian deity, that one.

Link: I see. You will not get serious unless it poses a certain level of threat to your life. 

Question 24: Are Nea and the 14th the same individual?

Wisely: My my. Is this reader mistaking something here? “The 14th” is just the alias the previous generation of Noah bestowed upon Nea. There is only one Nea. 

Link: Though Nea himself doesn’t seem fond of it; he’s said it is “a nickname given out of distaste”. Guess I’d have to be careful from now...

Allen: Huh? Careful of what?

Link: Would you like some mango juice, Walker?

Allen: WEE-HEE!

Bak: I’ve been wondering. Why isn’t he called “The 14th disciple” like the other Noahs but simply “The 14th”?

Wisely: Perhaps that is the distaste Nea was talking about. As has already been revealed in the Gray Log Fanbook, Nea has no Noah Memory, and for that very reason, the other Noahs may have treated him as the black sheep of the family. Well, I guess I’ll leave you here with a cliffhanger until the boy uncovers Nea’s secrets in the main narrative. 

Marie: He has no Noah Memory, so he couldn’t reincarnate like the other Noahs, and that is why he implanted his memories within Allen?

Link: Exactly when did he implant them within you? Do you really have no idea, Walker?

Allen: Told you; I really don’t know! It’s said to be around 35 years ago! I’m sixteen, remember? I didn’t even exist then!

Wisely: ..............

Lavi: What the heck are you grinning about, Three-Eyes?

Wisely: Nuffink.

(T/N: OMG OMG OMG OMG OH MY FREAKING GAWD WISELY DID YOU JUST FREAKING CONFIRM THE PAST!ALLEN THEORY WITHOUT SAYING A SINGLE WORD???!!!)

Question 25: Allen’s left eye should have become able to project the image of the Akuma souls to others, but it seems nobody apart from Lavi has seen it. Is it deciding itself whether to let other people see the souls within the Akuma?

Lavi: Ah, that...Just remembering it still gives me the creeps even now.

Allen: Back then when Lavi and Krory said they could see the Akuma’s soul, at first I was definitely sure the curse has strengthened in power, and from now people other than me will be able to see the souls, too. But after that, nobody ever saw it again. Looks like it’s just a one-time thing, after all.

Lavi: It was right after your damaged eye resurrected with the curse’s power, right? With your eye being in an unusual state like that, anything can happen. Me and Krorykins were just unfortunately caught up in the curse’s rampage. 

Allen: Well, it’s a relief, anyway. After all, it’s not a pleasant sight to behold. If it ends with you not having to see it anymore, I’d say it’s for the best.

Bak: I’m interested, though. As part of the Science Division, we welcome any information on the Akuma.

Wisely: So am I. For even my Demon Eye cannot see souls. In what state are they, the souls within Akuma?

Link: How could you say these things like it doesn’t concern you when you’re on the very side creating Akuma?

Marie: Must have been hard getting used to seeing those souls, huh, Allen?

Allen: When I first saw one, I was so scared I couldn’t even bear to look. But Master was patientーWell, for him. “Those things aren’t scary”, he’d scold me; they were once living humans just like us, and they’re just screaming for me to save them, after all. It took a long time, but just like that, little by little I became able to look at them. 

Question 26: What do Kanda, Allen, Lenalee and Lavi smell of? Lenalee would probably smell very nice. Well, she’s a girl after all; she’s definitely using perfume and the like, right?

Marie: Hmmmm. Kanda’s scent? Soap is the closest bet, I’d say.

(T/N: Sensei, considering the general negative image of D.Gray-Man as a Yaoi manga may I say this is not a wise move? *laffs*)

Allen: And me, Marie? What about me?

Marie: You usually have a sugary smell about you, Allen. Like dessert.

Lavi: Because there’s always crumbs all over your clothes, Allen.

Allen: Lavi’s eyepatch gives out whiffs of Fabreeze.

(T/N: the popular Japanese brand of air-freshener/deodorant spray.)

Lavi: Oi! Don’t say stuff from the old Instagram page! Some readers won’t get it!

(T/N: In Hoshino’s old Instagram there’s a drawing of Allen spraying Fabreeze at Lavi’s face for some reason. I don’t remember the caption. She’s also reposted it on her new Instagram just to clarify this joke. Maybe it’s just that he never/rarely takes off his eyepatch for cleaning and it’s moldy and sweaty...?)

Marie: Hmmmm...as for Lavi...he smells of tobacco a bit. 

Allen: Yeah! Just like Master’s scent.

Lavi: Ah, Gramps’ cigarettes, huh? I’m aware of that. 

Wisely: Bookman is a heavy smoker as ever. A wonder his lungs are still holding out even at his age.

Marie: I think Lenalee usually has a flowery scent, though.

Bak: Yes, she does! Lenalee-san smells like sweet flowers!

Allen: Bak-san, keep your voice down! If Komui-san hears you, we’d be in for big trouble!

Lavi: Lenalee doesn’t use perfume, and still she smells so nice.

Allen: There’s this thing she uses. You see, a while back I was talking to Lenalee about having more scars or something, and she said; “This works wonders, you know.” and gave me some of this thingーkinda like Body Oil? Could it have been that oil’s scent? The scars would fade if you keep rubbing this oil on them, from the looks of it. It smells wonderful when she’s putting it on me.

Bak: SHE WAS PUTTING IT ON YOU, WALKEEEEEEER!? (snaps)

(T/N: Trust me I had a really hard time keeping this one from becoming Fifty Shades of (D.) Gray or Silence of the Lambs for that matter...)

Allen: NO ULTERIOR MOTIVE! REALLY!

Lavi: Body oil, huh...ah, my heart’s gettin�� all weird just hearing that.

Link: What’s with that dirty look on your face, Bookman Jr?

>> Part 5 <<

[onelichtwolich]

stealin’ this from @forsakenpumpkin <3 i love these character sheet things

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻.

Repost, don’t reblog.

BASICS.

full name. chaalupa taaco. nickname. lup, obvi. taako also calls her lulu, lupala, froot lup, lu, and sis. barry also has a slew of romantic pet names. <3 gender. trans lady. height. 5′3″ age. 132 zodiac. gemini, baybee. twinz spoken languages. common, elvish, mongoose, prob could pick up just about anything if bored enough honestly. she has a proclivity towards linguistic shit like that.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair color.  naturally blonde. she likes to put red and orange in it; sometimes dyes it black (w red and orange in it). changes it up. eye color.  green. skin tone.  tan/light brown. she’s a sun elf, baybee. accent.  nope. voice.  prone to lilting in a way very similar to her brother’s. her voice is higher, though, and has a slight rasp to it. also is very loud. she is Unapologetically Herself and she makes sure the entire world knows about it. dominant hand.  gonna say she’s ambidextrous ‘cuz i can do that. i have the power. (prefers the right, though. Taako prefers the left.) posture. sometimes also floating LMAO, when it’s not that she tends to walk p casually but upright, not at all shy or hunched over, chest out sometimes. when in more casual situations she has a tendency to Sprawl and Hang Upside Down off of things like beds and couches. scars.  i do tend to think she has a large one goin’ down her back. doesn’t get many bc of being an elf and healing p quick, but she hasn’t exactly had an easy past free of fightin’. tattoos.  she might like some red phoenix wings or smth, maybe where the scar is. birthmarks.  is this a place to mention she has freckles? probably not. they’re not the same thing, but they are all over her body. maybe has a beauty mark under her left eye. most noticeable feature(s).  well, if you’re not from a world with elves, then probably the ears. they’re v expressive. and also, y’know. she’s a lich. so in that form it’s probably that whole situation.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth. her homeworld of twosun. birth weight. i dunno? healthy weight, i’d imagine. (i myself did not have a healthy weight so i have no reference LMAO). birth height. I DUNNO. manner of birth. just... a natural birth? first words. this is easy. “koko.” :D siblings. ...koko!! eheheh. she loves her twin brother taako more than anything. he’s her heart. parents. ya, she had some. parental involvement. not great. something Happened to them when the twins were both young, so young she doesn’t rly remember her parents and only remembers coming to live w her aunt and grandfather at the farm.

ADULT LIFE.

occupation. universe-saving astronaut, baybee! at least she was, b4 Isola. and v proud of it, so this is gonna be a hard adjustment for her. current residence.  archimedes. close friends. the whole crew. recently Undyne is the Best Friend bc of Cupid Shuffle shenanigans. ;3 relationship status. married 2 one fine nerd in denim named Barry Bluejeans. financial status. not struggling or anything, and she’ll always b grateful. driver’s license. naw. criminal record. oh yea she’s been kinda a thief ‘n’ a gambler w T before. u do what u gotta to survive. vices. they are canonically listed as “lust, gluttony,” and “pride.” she proudly guesses them before being accused and freely admits to ‘em. no guilt on her end.

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation. bisexual, baybee. romantic orientation. bi/panromantic. preferred emotional role. whispers what. what does this... mean? she likes bein’ there for her husband in whatever way she can, discovering and learning new things together, talking well into the night about stuff, supporting and holding each other through the good and bad times, makin’ music, makin’ food (on her end), just... ...he’s one of her best friends? her role is just... ...what she has w him? she’d never want for anything else. he’s the love of her life. (and she’s poly, too, ‘cuz i say so.) preferred sexual role. this i, personally, as a mun both don’t know about and don’t want to talk about. lup’s not sex-repulsed but i sure am. MOVING ON. libido. it’s healthy and she’s unashamed. what more can b said. turn on’s. denim ;D. a good brain is also sexy. a creative side and a daring side. a nice smile ‘n’ warm hugs, too. kindness. turn off’s. not a big fan of jerks in general. intolerant of cruelty towards herself or others. love language. ...hold on, i’m gonna take a quiz abt this. yup, it’s what i suspected--lup’s a Quality Time kinda gal. she’s big on just spending time w her loved ones and being in their presence, no matter what they’re doing. having experiences together is important. Physical Touch is almost tied. she’s very touchy-feely. relationship tendencies. oh, she’s very casual about it and teasing about it but she’s a Big Ol’ Romantic Sap. once Lup loves you she loves you with her entire being. she’s v passionate and v into the idea of soul mates, largely bc she found hers. she’s hesitant to commit, at first, bc she takes trust and relationships so seriously--it’s a big reason for such a slow burn--but once she does, she’s all in. she’s present with you, she’ll always show affection for you and be around you and help and protect you.

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song. i made a whole playlist of ‘em, which i won’t link to here! i think my fav example of a Lup song is “New Constellations” by Ryn Weaver, in terms of summing her up pretty well. hobbies to pass time. i’ve listed ‘em! you can find ‘em in stats. mental illnesses. PTSD for sure, yeah. physical illnesses. nope. fears. failing to protect her loved ones. failing at the mission. losing any of the people she loves forever. harming innocent people. self-confidence level. pretty dang high, LMAO. Lup does not lack in confidence; she’s been through hell to get hers and she’s holding onto it at all costs. she has moments of insecurity just like anyone, but. vulnerabilities. she has a very big heart. cares a whole lot. Taako gets exasperated with her for this, esp when it comes to risking herself for strangers, which he generally wouldn’t do (to him, it’s them vs the world; to her, it’s them for the world). her loved ones being threatened, the idea of harming people, just... she can’t stomach that.

tagged by: no one, baybee. renegade tagging: do it if u want, my friends!

[authoressskr]

Kiss Me Good

This was written for @sgtjbuccky’s End of Year Writing Challenge.

This is my first time writing Marvel, so I hope I did it justice!

Prompt: “I don’t know what to say. I’ve always been really bad at goodbyes.”  “Yeah. Me too.” (Prompt bolded in text below.)

Characters: Reader, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, Pepper Potts (Mrs. Stark), Natasha Romanov, Erika (OFC), Wanda Maximoff, Mention of Hulk/Bruce Banner   ::   Word Count: 5295

Pairings: Steve Rogers x f!Reader

Warnings: Language, Mentions of Injuries

Note: PLEASE do NOT repost, copy & paste, post or share my works (and claim as your own) on any other platform WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION AND CONSENT.

-+- REBLOGGING is fine and very appreciated! -+-

“Got any new year’s resolutions?”

“Can’t say that I do, Tony.”

“Such a bore, Captain.” Steve sighs at Tony. He really should have known better than to stop by the kitchen on his way to the gym. He removes the lid from the jar containing the rest of the smoothie he’d made before his run, and hoping to avoid the New Years Eve party discussion, swallows down what’s left. But Tony just stares at him expectantly, popping a few chocolate covered blueberries into his mouth with a knowing smile as he makes himself comfortable leaning against the kitchen island.

“Don’t die?”

“That’s a nearly every day resolution for us.” Tony rubs his hands together. “What you need is a good way to start the new year. Maybe be kissed by a pretty lady?” Steve frowns, not liking where this is headed at all.

“I don’t want to go to another party, Tony.”

“Well, that’s a terrible way to welcome the new year - with a bah humbug mentality towards my parties.”

“I am attending!” Thor chimes in cheerfully, tugging at the towel wrapped around the back of his neck with a wide smile.

“See? Thor is coming! And happy about my party to boot.” Tony smile in agreement with the Asgardian as Sam and Bucky walk into the living room, making Steve think he can finally get out of this conversation.

“Isn’t Pepper’s new assistant going to be there? Man, I’ll really miss Erika. Glad her husband got that job in Japan though.” Clint remarks casually from the other side of the bar, tucked close to the wall with a bowl of ice cream in front of him. Huh. Steve hadn’t even noticed he was there. That’s what he gets for attempting to dodge Tony...an annoyingly intuitive former assassin.

“The cute dame who spilled the coffee all over Steve?” Steve suppresses the groan threatening to spill from his mouth, shooting a glare at his best friend instead. Bucky just shrugs then leans on the wall by Clint, all eyes now on Steve.

“I do not want to go to the New Years’ Eve party.” He says it firmly, turning away from his friends to rinse out the dregs from his cup.

“I do not like green eggs and ham.” Tony mocks as three sets of heels come clicking up behind him.

“Tell me the party isn’t Dr. Seuss themed, Tony.”

“No, Pepper. But that is an excellent idea. F.R.I.D.A.Y. please make a note of that for future party ideas.”

“Yes, boss.” Tony give Pepper a smile before directing his attention to her right.

“Ah! The cute dame in question!” Steve scowls at Tony while Bucky actually leans back in his seat a little to wink at her. Watching her forehead furrow slightly before Erika chastises Tony and Bucky for teasing the new hire.

“It’s alright, Erika. I’ve endured worse than being called a cute dame. What can I help you with Mr. Stark?”

“Well you see, Captain Rogers over there doesn’t want to go to my fabulous New Years’ party tonight.”

“Isn’t that his prerogative, sir?” She cocks her head to the side, ever so slightly and Clint smirks at Steve, watching him definitely not watch her.

“I won’t stand for that kind of talk in this company, Miss Y/N.” She gives him a sharp nod and small smile. “Alright, now, if you were me - how would you convince the illustrious Mr. Rogers to attend?”

“I believe you would have already mentioned the copious amounts of liquor, all the attractive models and generally beautiful women, and the delicious finger foods.” Tony nods at her words, forefinger tapping against his lips. “Well, I would need to know more about him but I think for starters, I would attempt to find something the good Captain was interested in. Perhaps invite the World War II vets that live nearby? Give him a three hour cop out time? Have Ms. Romanov use her far more talented self to get Mr. Rogers to agree to come?” She pauses then looks Steve dead in the eye, fighting not to smile. “Fondue?”

Bucky snorts loudly, faking a cough to cover his smothered laughter as Steve’s eyes widen and he damn near begins to stutter out a series of questions...only for her phone to ring.

“Excuse me everyone.” And she clicks her way down the hallway a little to take her call.

“Where did you say you picked her up from again?” Sam asks Pepper with a smile.

“She came highly recommended from Fury.” Tony pipes up as Erika nods seriously.

“Mrs. Stark, that was Thomas from Tech, eighth floor. He wanted to let you know that the loading dock damaged some of the cargo due to the snow and ice on the ramps.”

“We’ll go down and take a look. Did he say what the cargo was?”

“He sent an itemized list.”

“Very good, Y/N. Well, Tony, I came up here to let you know that you’ll need to find another DJ. The one you booked slid on some ice this morning - on his motorcycle - and broke his collarbone and fractured two ribs.”

“Pay him for a week, his hospital stay and I’ll find someone else for tonight. And I trust you two ladies will also be coming tonight?” Heads bob in agreement before Pepper kisses his cheek and says a quick goodbye before disappearing towards the elevator with her assistants in tow. Tony turns his gaze back to Steve, eyes damn near twinkling at the flustered face Steve had pulled just a few minutes ago.

“Fondue?”

“Shut up.” He glares at Bucky then turns towards the gym, Bucky quickly catching up with his escaping best friend, both sets of super soldier ears catching Thor innocently asking what fondue was.

“I suppose this means you’re going tonight now?”

“I’m gonna use you as a punching bag, Buck.”

“Like that’s gonna get that pretty dame outta your head, punk.” They didn’t even make it to the gym before Steve punched Bucky. Hard.

Bucky just laughed.

You could hear the music and chatter through the elevator doors, nervously running hands down the front of your dress before Erika politely coughed as her husband chuckled beside her.

“Better get used to this. Tony likes parties to distract himself. Also, I think, as a sort of calendar too.”

“That’s a loud ass calendar.” You mutter, warily looking out of the elevator doors at the throng of people before you, trying to fight back the cringe threatening to flash across your face.

“Come on. Night’s young and the elevator doors aren’t just going to stay open.” Erika gives you a little shove forward, sending you from the safe silver space and into the noisy expanse. “Don’t worry, this doesn’t happen too often. And you’ve handled everything else so far with flying colors!” She nudges her shoulder against your own before dragging her husband towards the bar.

“You look lost.” Tony’s words made you jump a little, making his easy going smile widen just a tad. Smiling to hide your nerves, you nod.

“Overwhelmed, I think is the word I would have chosen.” Tony offers his arm with a small eye roll.

“Overwhelmed? By anyone who knows Fury? I highly doubt that. Now, what will you be drinking?” You hesitate slightly, Tony guiding you towards the bar, nodding and smiling as he passed his guests. “Something strong for someone who faced down Captain America?” You can feel the heat in your cheeks and ears, eyes dropping down at his teasing.

“I shouldn’t have done that. I should have been more respectful.”

“Well, he is old.” Tony agrees with a nod, holding up two fingers to the bartender. “Shot? Now, no saying no. I’m your boss.” He hands you the shot glass and you clink before tossing it back and letting out a little hiss at the burn of the alcohol.

“12% my boss.” Tony points a finger and shakes it gently, grinning.

“Ah, Captain! And the Silver Sergeant!” Your spine straightens, shooting Tony a panicked look as his smile only grows. He leans in and hugs you, whispering “Guess that I’m only 12% of an ally right now.”

You’re being more than 12% of a dick right now, Tony Stark. You think as he disappears into the crowd. Forcing yourself to move a little closer to the bar and order a drink. You hear a soft grunt, which makes you wrinkle your forehead a little.

“You, uh, come here often?” You can’t help the chuckle that spills out of your mouth, quickly thanking the bartender before turning to face Captain Steven Grant Rogers.

“No.” Bucky’s shoulders shake a little at the interaction, moving around the two of you to get to the bar. Steve’s neck and ears turn a lovely shade of pink at your answer. Your eyes quickly widen as your teeth sink into your bottom lip. “Sorry. You’re just, um, fluster-worthy?”

“Are you asking…?” He rumbles out a light laugh. “Is that a word?” You take a little sip to steel yourself.

“I said it aloud, thus it is a word.” You both are surprised at your confident tone, the good captain smirking down at you.

“There she is again.” Bucky thrust a glass into Steve’s hand before heading towards Clint a handful of feet away. You miss the look they share, your mind too busy trying to think of a way to first, apologize and second, smooth this over so as not to affect your job. Sucking in a deep breath, you gesture to an empty spot by the terrace doors as he nods in agreement. You aren’t sure what you were expecting, but Steve offering his arm is not it at all. You dip your head in gratitude before linking your free arm loosely with his.

The cacophony of the room seems to die down a little once you reach the massive doors and you’re suddenly trying to dry swallow down your nerves. One of his big hands gesture to a few plush chairs.

“No, thank you. You?”

“Nah.” You chuckle against the rim of your glass as you take another sip causing him to cock an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“Just didn’t expect you to be a man of so few words, I suppose. All the stories I’ve heard…”

“Stories.” He scoffs, taking a long drink from the tumbler in his hand and dropping his gaze to the floor.

“I didn’t mean to insult you.” His blue eyes shoot up from his shoes to your eyes. “Now or, you know, earlier today.” His mouth opens to reply as you quickly blurt out, “Coulson mentioned it to me.” A chuckle rumbles out of his wide chest and you take the time to really appreciate - look - at what he’s wearing. The gray blue button up is stretched across that wide expanse of chest, with a black dress jacket fitting snugly over that. Black slacks and black dress shoes complete the outfit, you notice just before his voice rang out, moving a little closer to you as the crowd shifted in the room with more couples beginning to dance.

“I didn’t take it personal.” A handsome, boyish smile is plastered on his face - reassuring you. “Just something I hadn’t heard since before I came out of the ice. Startled me.”

“Well I am sorry to have startled you then, Captain Rogers.”

“Steve.” He corrects quickly before finishing his drink.

“Steve.” You confirm, smiling up at him. “I didn’t mean to spill the coffee on you a couple weeks ago either. You just seem to make me nervous.”

“Why do I make you nervous, Y/N?” There is a sudden lump in your throat as he smiles down at you, some of his rigid posture relaxing just a tad.

“Well, you and Bucky,” His smile goes down a few watts, you’re sure of it, “Are god’s honest heroes. Both now and during World War II.” And the wattage is back up. “On top of that, you are a very imposing figure - 6 plus of solid muscle - who is apparently a sometimes terrifying teddy bear?”

“You callin’ me soft?” He teases, easing just a tad closer as you begin to relax, his finger tapping absentmindedly against his empty tumbler. You flutter a hand to your chest, gasping softly.

“Do I look like a person to call you names, good sir?”

“I don’t know,” He drops his gaze again before raising them slowly, those blue eyes piercing through you, “Pretty dames can get away with an awful lot.”

“You callin’ me pretty?”

“Yes ma’am.” You nearly drop your glass at the bashful blush that creeps up his neck and the too cute drop of his gaze. You down what’s left of your drink and clear your throat, grateful when a waiter comes by to gather both your glasses. You take a chance and reach forward, placing a hand on his forearm and give it a little squeeze as his head snaps up.

“Thank you for the compliment.” You mutter softly, looking him in the eye briefly before scanning the crowd to get away from his intense baby blues. You weren’t sure your heart could take too much of those eyes gazing directly into your own.

Steve shuffles a little, Sam having moved into his line of sight a half dozen feet behind you. Sam is pointing at you and then his own glass and making a forward rolling motion with his free hand. Geez.

“So, uh, how’d Tony convince you to come work here?” Hearing your soft chuckle makes his heart thrum a little louder in his chest and he can’t keep the smile from his face for long.

“Well, the money isn’t terrible,” you pause as a waiter comes by with an array of appetizers, taking a napkin and a few as he did the same. Bucky is beside Sam, pointing to the chairs - a hell of a lot more subtly than Sam - his hair swinging slightly as he gestured.

“Would you like to sit now?” He questions, his chest tightening as she smiled at him and nods, moving just a few feet to the plush red pair of chairs. She pats the chair next to her, crossing her ankles and angling her legs to the right - politely waiting for him to sit. “Anything besides the money?” He prompts her to continue, popping a bacon, cheese and artichoke encrusted square of bread into his mouth.

“I’d never been past South Dakota, so this was a big opportunity. Not just to see New York, but to travel with Pepper as well.” She pops a stuffed mushroom cap in her mouth, her eyes fluttering closed at the taste before opening and continuing. “I know it’s work, but I’ve always wanted to travel.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“Um, it’s hard to explain...I’m pretty shy most of the time and by the time I had a good job and a little extra money, most of my friends were getting married and having children so they couldn’t go. I didn’t want to go by myself, so,” He watched your left shoulder rise and fall as your fingers tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, more from habit than actual need. “I, um, just worked.”

“I know how that feels. Just waiting, ya know. It’s more difficult than havin’ an adventure.” A bout of rich laughter come from you, startling him in a wonderful way.

“Except for your kinds of adventure I suppose. Those seem pretty difficult.”

“Bucky likes to say that once they cured me of the laundry list of ailments I had, I was even more reckless than before. Which he insists is ridiculously reckless.”

“You say that as if you aren’t ridiculously reckless…” She narrows her eyes playfully, making him swallow a little harder than he intended, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face.

“Name callin’ again, Y/N.”

“Okay. Okay.” Shifting a little closer to him, she pops another appetizer into her mouth. “If you could go anywhere, Steve, where would you go?”

“Somewhere with white sandy beaches and ocean for miles. Just lying under a tree and looking out over it all. What about you, doll?”

You cock an eyebrow, but don’t say anything about the name. “I’d like to go somewhere historic, somewhere like the Mediterranean - Italy, Greece, somewhere like that. I’d also absolutely adore going to Scotland.”

“So bright, breezy wine drenched easy going places or Scotland with it’s clouds and rain and rolling green hills?”

A nod of excitement is his answer, her eyes lighting up. “Have you seen those little igloo hut things in, um, Finland I think?” He shakes his head, grinning simply for the fact that the excitement is nearly palpable. “Well, they’re little huts that you can rent and it’s surrounded by trees and you can see the Northern Lights and I would love to do that. Enjoy a hot spring during the day, pick up some weird chocolate I’ve never tried and just lay there with someone special - cause the ceilings of the igloos are super thick glass - and watch the Northern Lights til we fall asleep.”

“That sounds like a hell of an adventure, doll.”

“Erika said I was probably a travel agent or something in another life.”

“Maybe you were a great adventurer and you still got the itch to go. Maybe not discovering new, dangerous lands, but appreciating the ones we have access to now.” A boldness must have come over her again because her hand settles over his, her thumb swiping just by his own.

“I’m callin’ you soft now, Steve.” He wants to blurt out that at this point she can call him whatever she damn well pleases. Ever since Tony and Pepper had introduced her to them, he’d been starstruck. Bucky called it “mooning” on account of his “cow eyes” every time he saw her. Steve didn’t care what anyone called it either. He had a soft spot for her and if not for the fact that his tongue was currently stuck to the roof of his mouth he’d probably be a chucklehead and say something stupid.

“Just a reckless, soft, dangerous, 6 foot plus teddy bear.”

“You forgot smooth.” Leaning in closer, he mirrors you, a little too eager for closeness. Just over your shoulder is Clint - pursing his lips repeatedly and pointing at your back, making his fight back the urge to glare. “A lot smoother than Sam and Clint and Bucky.” He can feel the heat shoot up his neck and settle in, his cheeks and ears burning red as the butterflies in his stomach kick up their fluttering. Tilting your head towards the windows with a sweet and knowing smile on your lips, “Windows are reflective, Captain.”

“They’re - uh - just tryin’ to help. I got a bit of a crush.” You snap back like the thought hadn’t even crossed your mind.

“On me?” It’s spoken so quietly, had he had normal hearing he would have missed it.

“Yeah - coffee, fondue and all.” There’s silence, which he won’t admit worries him, making him sit up straighter as well. He’s pretty sure this just went upside down on him, since you just sit there with your forehead scrunched slightly - makin’ you look even cuter in his opinion - before he realizes he shouldn’t be thinking of you in that way anymore. “I’ve made you uncomfortable. And I apologize for that, doll, I mean, Y/N.” The butterflies in his stomach promptly turn to rocks in his stomach. “I won’t --” The rest of his sentence is cut off by the softness of your lips against his.

“Midnight isn’t for another two hours!” Sam shouts over your shoulder as you two pull apart, with what he’s sure is identical looks of surprise painted on both your faces.

You both ignore the light laughter around you, Steve tugging you onto your feet and slipping out the french doors to the balcony.

“I have a bit of a crush too.” Your confession whispered shyly into the chilly night air. Steve shrugs his jacket off and slips it onto your shoulders.

“Anyone I know?” He’s closer now, your soft perfume tickling his nose.  

“I spilled coffee on him two weeks ago. And sort of  wrangled him into a party he really didn’t want to go to.” Her fingers brush up along a few of the buttons of his shirt before their eyes meet.

“That guy sounds like a pushover.” You move closer, your chests now almost touching. “Must be a special dame.”

“Well, he is an exceptional man. A softie at heart. A star spangled man with a plan.” He groans loudly at the last bit, causing a laugh to spill from your pretty lips. “It was really too good to pass up, Steve. You can’t hold it against me.”

“A kiss might make me feel better.” Even as he says it, he can feel the heat flush through him.

“Come here with that cute boyish smile.” This one he wants to do right, his hands fluttering down to your waist as his gaze darts from your lips to your eyes. You give him a small nod before pressing closer and raising up on the balls of your feet with your hands planted firmly on his chest.

Pressing your lips together chastely, Steve marveling at how soft your lips are before tilting his head slightly and moving them against yours gently. A soft inhale of breath through your nose spurs him on - spurs him to dart his tongue over her bottom lip. She gives a little gasp but he pulls back, her forehead scrunching up again before she opens her eyes, seeing his lips tugged upward in a gentle smile.

“Gotta treat you like a lady.”

“Really? Your hand sliding down to my ass was gentlemen-like but french kissing isn’t?”

“What a dame.” He mutters happily before his hand returns to her ass, pulling her back against his chest and his mouth slanting over hers happily and a bit greedily.

By the time they pull apart, they’re both sporting dopey smiles. “Can I take you out tomorrow night?”

“As long as you’re my New Years Eve kiss, Rogers, you got yourself a deal.”

Your floating on cloud 9 the next morning at work, hastily clicking your way through a few emails when you hear a soft knock, drawing your gaze up to the tall, blonde drink of water filling out the doorway.

“Hey, doll.”

“Hey! What’re you doing here?” You rise from your desk, moving around the desk as he enters the office. When you meet in the middle, he leans down to press a soft kiss against your lips.

“I, uh, needed to talk to you.”

Uh-oh. Your chest tightens at his words. Was last night a mistake? Swallowing hard you plaster on a smile. “Go ahead.”

“We got called out for a mission. We leave in about an hour. So I wanna ask for a rain check for our date tonight.” He pauses, big blue eyes giving you a puppy dog look. “If you’d have me still.”

You relax and give a small chuckle. “I think I could wait a little longer, handsome.” His big hand wraps around yours, giving a little squeeze as his face brightens up with a smile. “Thank you for coming up here and talking to me.” You heave a little sigh and squeeze his hand back, feeling his thumb rub across the back of your hand soothingly. “I don’t know what to say. I’ve always been really bad at goodbyes.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“I guess just kiss me good and be safe, Steve.”

“I can do that, doll.”

“Miss, the boss requires your presence in the infirmary.” You set the papers onto your keyboard, grab your cell and rush towards the elevator, pressing the up button a few more times than necessary. You’d never been called to the infirmary and that worried you more than multi-billion dollar deal paperwork.

Once you arrive, you shove your phone into your dress pocket and book it down the hallway towards the more private end where the Avengers are usually treated.

You see Sam leaning against the wall, nodding to his right as you approach, your forehead scrunching as you turn, not able to stop the loud gasp that escapes from you.

Steve and Bucky look like they’ve gone a few dozen rounds with heavy machinery.

“They heal fast,” Wanda whispers as she enters behind you, giving your elbow a friendly squeeze. “They looked worse when Tony and the Hulk dragged them out of the building. I know that isn’t helpful, but just to put it in perspective.”

“Barnes and Rogers are sedated because they had multiple fractures in their legs and feet and continued to walk and run on them.” Tony come in with a little less of his usual sashay, huffing out a breath as he gave a small smile. “Just easier to deal with them this way.”

“Is this why you called me down here, sir?” You swallow the lump in your throat, moving closer to stand between both beds. You take Bucky’s hand and give it a squeeze before turning and running your fingers through Steve’s messy hair.

“Figured they’re rather wake up to your face than mine. And I know the boss, she won’t mind.” Tony winks at you before pushing off the wall and heading for the door. “Oh, and they’ll be awake in about 45 mins or so.”

“Thanks, boss.” His hand waves you off as he exits the room, Wanda giving you a wink of her own - arranging some water and glasses on the table on the other side of Steve’s bed - before gracefully sailing from the room. You withdraw your hands from the super soldiers before pulling a plush chair between them, settling in and returning your hands where they’d been, gently cradling Bucky’s hand in your own and running your fingers through Steve’s hair.

“I don’t really know many stories off the top of my head...and I’m drawing a blank on what to talk about...don’t you hate when that happens?” You chew on your bottom lip, thinking about things you had memorized that weren’t work related. “Do you guys like Edgar Allan Poe?”

“The angels, not half so happy in heaven,

Went envying her and me-

Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.”

Steve wanted to let his eyes flutter open but it felt so nice, fingers running through his hair and her soft voice easing him awake, he didn’t want to open his eyes just yet.

“But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we-

Of many far wiser than we-

And neither the angels in heaven above,

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.”

He can hear Bucky’s heartbeat kick up from its resting rate before the short pause she’d taken is broken again.

“For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,

In the sepulchre there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.”

Bucky clears his throat, startling her.

“No offense, gorgeous, but that was a little depressing.”

“Edgar Allan Poe does tend to be more depressing, sorry. And it’s one of the few things I still have memorized that isn’t work related.”

“Real pretty though.” Steve smiles out, her hand stilling in his hair.

“Depressing pretty.” Bucky chuckles.

“Kind of like your faces right now.” She teases, both men wiggling into a sitting position and giving her playful glares. “Would you both like some water?” They both mutter out a grateful ‘yes’ as she moves to get that for them.

Once they’ve drained their glasses, she flips her chair around to face them better, sitting with a small smile gracing her lips.

“So, is it confidential? The building that whipped Captain America and Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes asses? Maybe code named reckless?”

“I see you’ve talked to Tony, doll.”

“I think I’m entitled to a little ribbing.” Both men look confused for a few minutes. “Do you not know the date? It’s almost February.” Steve knows his mouth has dropped open momentarily at this news. He honestly hadn’t thought it had been that long they’d been on mission.

“Hard to keep track of the date when you’re constantly ankle deep in mud,” Bucky grunts out, shifting in the bed.

He watches you straighten up minutely, lips thinning ever so slightly into a line before forcing a soft smile. Oh, doll.

“I’m sorry. That was selfish of me.” Bucky flicks a look at him for help, upset that he had upset you - even unintentionally.

“We aren’t upset at you, doll. We just didn’t think it had been that long.”

“Completely unintentional, beautiful, I swear.” Bucky’s words nearly overlap his own, both sets of blue eyes switching to puppy mode.

Her phone trills in her pocket, all of them falling silent. She pulls the device from her pocket and unlocks it, quickly typing out an answer before clicking it closed and standing.

“I’m sorry - I need to get some paperwork sent off. Do you need anything before I go?”

A light bulb goes on in Steve’s mind as Bucky gives a barely there shake of his head.

“Just kiss me good and don’t be upset at our grumpy old man words.” A smile, a real smile, breaks out on her face, lighting it up again.

“I can do that, handsome.” She leans in, bracing her hands on the bed before pausing just a breath away. “Only if you forgive me. I tend to be pretty sensitive.”

“Nothin’ to forgive.” He mutters before their lips meet, his hand coming up to rest on the back of her neck, not too eager to have her move away too soon. “I’ll be all healed up before tomorrow night…” He pecks at her lips after he trailed off, repeating the motion again with a smile.

“How about we have a pre-date dinner tonight? I’ll bring some food, Bucky can third-wheel it and tell me some good stories he’s got on you.”

“Chinese?” Bucky pipes up hopefully, Y/N turning to look at him before Steve tightens his fingers ever so slightly on her neck to keep her lips in close proximity to his.

“Sure.” She presses her lips firmly against his before pulling back. “I gotta go review, scan in and then mail those papers. I’ll be back in a bit.” She makes her way to the door before turning and looking as stern as she could manage with a big smile. “Listen to the doctors, please. No hobbling around on your fractures if they aren’t healed - okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.” They both chime out together.

“Thank you!” She gives a little wave as she leaves, prompting Steve to look over at his best friend.

“No telling her about that time at the beach. You know the one.”

“But, Stevie, I was gonna lead with that story...” Bucky is sporting a shit-eating grin as Steve settles back against his pillow, closing his eyes with a smile. “Hey, Steve?” He hums in acknowledgment. “You know that means that Valentine’s Day is just a couple weeks away now.”

“Not. Helping. Bucky.”

Tagging: @sgtjbuccky @unleashthemidnight @thewhiterabbit42 @nobodys-baby-now @clockworkmorningglory @ourloveisforthelovely @stay-frosty-royal-unicorn @chelsea072498 @sakurablossom4 @galaxiesinmyymind

[wordsablaze]

5/6: To Reclaim The Dead

Five Times Diego Gave Klaus A Lift … and the one time he returned the gesture in his own way. Enjoy!

A/N: Pretty fluffy chapter actually <3 Only one more left ^.^

Vanya falls unconscious but Diego is more focused on how Klaus is crying and Ben is alive.

Oh, and the fact that they’d become teenagers again within moments.

Allison runs over to Luther, who would have dropped Vanya had it not been for Five's quick reflexes and Allison's sisterly love, but Diego doesn't bother to interfere with any of that.

Instead, he slowly walks towards Klaus and Ben, even though both of them are murmuring to each other rapidly, clearly not meaning for anyone else to hear, perhaps because anyone else simply wouldn't understand.

When he gets close enough, the two of them step apart, send him matching smiles, and then pull him into a hug; Diego smiles happily at the feeling he’d so dearly missed.

“Ben…” he finds himself gasping, shocked at how real and solid his brother is, unlike how they'd just seen him, as some sort of ghostly blue apparition.

“Diego,” Ben whispers back, tears in his eyes and genuine joy behind them rather than anything mocking.

“And I'm Klaus,” Klaus inputs, but not rudely.

They laugh and it's so weird to hear them laughing before they've hit puberty that they all stop pretty quickly, but then dissolve into hysteria again because they'd all been comically in sync.

“You really weren’t ever lying, were you? Oh, you absolute-” Diego clears his throat, offering Klaus an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Klaus, really.”

After Ben nudges him pointedly, Klaus sighs. “You’re the last person that should be apologising. And, um, I believe a ‘thank you’ is in order.”

“Did-” Diego coughs away the emotion lodged in his throat and replaces it with a small smile- “he used to order you around even when- when he was, uh…”

Klaus cocks his head and lets out a small chuckle. “When he was blue and ghostly? Yeah. He used to try.”

“And then I Patrick… Uh, Patrick something-ed you!” Ben argues smugly.

Despite his clear temptation to reprimand Ben on how he should know the names of iconic people by now, Klaus just grins, the hollow look that’s usually present in his eyes replaced with something close to elation.

Although that might be the lack of drugs and alcohol in his system, Diego notes. If there are any perks of going through life all over again, one of them is definitely that he has the chance to prevent his brother from being reduced to a traumatised, homeless junkie.

Just then, Luther starts rapidly talking behind them and Diego realises he’d forgotten just how irritating that voice could be. He wants to stay and listen and respect his - kind of older - brother, he sort of really does, but there’s definitely something else he’d rather do with his time.

“I have a suggestion,” he announces.

Both of his brothers look mildly surprised before sharing a look, Klaus then turning back to and winking at Diego before he and Ben swivel and start to sprint. Diego huffs in annoyance but the three of them being on the same page again is comforting enough to send any potential dejection away as he chases after them, taking a second to wonder why he’d run around in a leather holster of sorts when he was so much quicker without the weight of it.

As it is, they reach the car at the same time. Or rather, they reach the space where the car had been at the same time. And then they promptly realise that, of course, the car Diego hadn’t grown up and fashioned yet wouldn’t be there.

Diego bites his lip and looks around awkwardly as Ben laughs. In the end, it’s Klaus who solves their problem by staring at and then slowly pointing to a rather rusty car. “We can take that one.”

“Steal it?” Diego asks, his tone making it clear that he doesn’t want Klaus to indulge in theft anymore.

But Klaus shakes his head. “Nah, it’s not stealing if the owner’s ghost is inviting me to take it, is it?”

Ben looks shocked for a moment, as if he’d forgotten he’d no longer be able to see ghosts too, but recovers and reacts the fastest anyway, nodding enthusiastically and pulling Klaus towards the car. Naturally, Diego pushes past them and climbs into the driver’s seat as Klaus and Ben follow and eventually settle into the passenger’s seat, squashed together but clearly not bothered about it.

“Where to, guys?” Diego asks, turning the engine on.

Ben puts a hand over Klaus’ mouth as he answers: “My room, please.”

For a second, both Klaus and Diego stop breathing. It’s understandable that he’d want to go back there but going back there holds the risk of running into one Reginald Hargreeves and they’re not sure how good of an idea that is.

Before either of them can voice that thought, Ben lets out a rather satisfied giggle. “See? I can give you false information just as well as Klaus can.”

Klaus groans, finally pushing Ben’s hand away and giving him an incredulous look. “Seriously? It took an apocalypse for you to get enough confidence for that?”

Diego interrupts at this point by pressing down on the accelerator and causing them all to be thrown back. “Sorry!” he mutters, adrenaline roaring in his veins before he can figure out how to slow down.

When he turns to his brothers, Klaus is frozen, with Ben clinging to him like some sort of koala. He can’t even tell which of their expressions is more hilarious and he wishes he had one of those camera phones Eudora was always trying to convince him to buy so he could capture the moment.

“What about that ice cream place?” Klaus suggests, starting to poke Ben’s hair as if in awe of its existence.

Diego nods. “Sure. It won’t be as good as Ben’s masterpieces though.”

Ben abruptly snaps out of his shocked daze and bats Klaus’ hand away with an affronted look before staring at Diego slyly. “There might be a lot less crying with this one, though.”

They almost crash.

Very narrowly avoiding hitting a lamppost, Diego coughs yet again. “You, uh, you saw that?”

Klaus rolls his eyes, going to put his feet up on the dashboard but realising he’s not tall enough before settling on folding his arms. “Which part of Ben haunting me did you not understand when I told you?”

“The part where you’re not sober,” Diego replies honestly.

“I am sober!” Klaus argues defensively, then groans when Ben clears his throat and reluctantly adds: “Okay, so I wasn’t sober before meeting Dave. But Ben never needed me to be sober anyway…”

Ben nods at this point. “I guess I just had more reason to stay attached.”

Diego takes a minute to focus on getting a space for their car, ending up parking perfectly and switching the engine off. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe it sooner,” he says, and he’s not sure who exactly he’s addressing.

It doesn’t matter anyway because all three of them hear it and dwell on it for only a few seconds before clambering out of the car and linking arms just like old times, Ben in the middle so he can get the full experience of being able to feel again, the three of them wearing matching, nostalgic smiles.

The owner of the car's ghost beams at them and offers a thumbs-up to Klaus, who smiles back at him and chooses not to mention it to his brothers in favour of maintaining their comfortable silence.

They’d never been an ordinary set of siblings so mundane rules of society and the etiquette of growing up hadn’t really applied to them. And now, as they take childhood in their stride for the second time, despite everything they’ve gone through, all three of them can agree they wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

like/reblog but don’t repost, thanks!  Masterlist

[valeriemperez]

Any other asks about the latest fandom incident are going under this cut, and I will not be making another post about it:

Just kinda feels like you're placing more of the blame on GG then you are on the actual media that could do better. I feel that GG has a right to stand up for himself. And it's suddenly his fault and his responsibility to shield CP from racism.

Though it may feel that way, it’s not what is happening. This is why I retweeted and liked tweets directed at media outlets, whereas all I did to Grant was like his post and say “no one deserves to be body shamed.”

Honestly no a week won't a difference in a long run imo. I don't think as racists keep piling on her she'll think "oh well I had that one week that wasn't so bad so I guess this is fine " I guess for me what GG does for CP behind the scenes has more of a long term effect then making things a little less worse for one week.

I am sure that Grant and Candice’s actions BTS have more of a long term effect on the show, I never suggested otherwise. On fandom behavior? Not at all.

I think you're giving the uglier side of the fandom way too much credit. When GG supported the "run iris run" it only inspired parts of the fandom to be against it. Take a browse through the comment section of the iris poster that's on his IG. I legit argued with a GG Stan on Instagram that they should be kinder CP cause she's GG's friend and the response was "I don't care if GG likes her I'm still going to hate her." At most they'll pretend to be nice for a week then go back to being horrible

G supporting RIR inspired some people to comment negatively, sure. But him making a post after that saying, “If you are hateful and racist towards my friend and costar, I will block you” probably would not cause that same reaction. But we will never know.

I actually disagree if you think public support is more important than the private support he's given her. I think a lot of you have some unreasonable expectations of GG making a post and the fandom going "guess we won't be racist anymore". GG is not enough to make someone give up that kind of hate in their heart I'm sorry if you thought he'd be the one to solve that problem. What he's done for her BTS and to the producers has a much longer effect then maybe the fandom playing nice for a day

I don’t think public support is more important, and I don’t think it’ll stop racism. This sounds similar to the ask above, so I think the same answer stands.

Yeah he'll shut haters up for a day. Then the SB fans who hate when GG does something nice for CP will get more jealous and aggressive. The fanboys who hate CP and will always hate her will continue to attack her. I'm not saying him publicly saying it won't be nice but if it does happen I think a lot of you will be disappointed in that it probably won't change anything.

We’ll never know.

Honest I feel like GG could publicly speak out but when it doesn't fix anything the fandom will continue to blame GG for everything. Especially since to me it makes more sense to confront media sites for not doing more for CP then to blame GG for having the gall to stand up for himself.

We have been confronting the media sites about it, don’t worry.

So Grant is only allowed to publicly defend himself if he defends other people? Also at some point it became his sole responsibility to defend everyone else? Maybe I'm reading you wrong but you're coming across as saying "Since he's not showing the support I want him to show that means he's not supportive to Candice".

I never said that, he is very welcome to defend himself. And yes, you are reading it wrong, because I have specifically stated that he is supportive of Candice and that she receives and appreciates that support.

Your stance on this seriously is that the reason CP continues to get racist attacks is because GG never made a public statement. I think you have this idea that GG is willfully denying CP any relief from being attacked. Even with GG's case the people who supported him are the ones who always supported him. The people who attacked him were pretty much laughing at him saying they won't stop because he made a post. GG got some press for sure but it won't change anything in the long run.

No, that is not my stance. My stance is that Grant has the power to make more people aware of the situation, and to make some people feel shame for their actions, but he hasn’t used it. Several people who attacked him beforehand apologized in the comments and said they hadn’t thought about it that way.

Several of his coworkers commented on the post he made supporting him and Shethority reposted his statement on their IG story to show love. Whereas when he accidentally liked the comment saying Iris should be killed off, he did not make a comment on Candice’s insta saying “I love working with you and can’t wait to continue!” or whatever, he merely went to the IGs of people claiming he wanted her killed off to say he never meant to like that comment. Whether things will change in the long run or not, all I said is that Grant doesn’t make videos or posts or leave comments when it comes to the hatred his co-stars have been sent. That’s it, that’s the whole point.

I know you're not saying more but I want to say this last thing. You're actually not simply saying he's doesn't publicly support her you're twisting it into a thing where GG is the reason CP gets racial attacks everyday and assuming you know what the outcome will be if he supports her the way you want her to be supported. You're more accusing GG of something that's not his fault.

You’re twisting it into that, I’m specifically not saying that. I already said we don’t know the outcome if he were to speak out publicly.

I mean he gave a lot of support for Candice for the Run Iris Run episode. He actually did say how great she was in it which goes along with the "I love working with you" comment that you want him to do. I guess I'm confused cause he has given that kind of public support you want him to give her but you don't want to recognize it?

I already acknowledged that he’s given her support. I’m specifically talking about pushing back against the hatred, as opposed to “I don’t see that in my mentions” or whatever. I don’t know what else you want me to say, because I still enjoy Grant as an actor and their dynamic as costars. 

But lets be real here no matter what GG does he ain't changing anyone's mind. Him making a post might make you feel better about things but I doubt it'll actually making any difference to how the fandom treats CP. It just sucks that to you none of the previous support GG has given CP matters because to you the only thing that matters is that he give a public statement that would maybe have the fandom behave for no more than a week.

I already said that we will never know what would happen, and that it isn’t the only thing that matters. You’re the one twisting my words.

I don't get it tho wouldn't GG's actions having more of a long term effect on the show be more important and useful to CP? I certainly find it more important. I'd rather GG stick up for CP and WA behind the scenes and ensure their place of importance on the show then him making this grand public statement you want that might (and this is a big MIGHT) make the fandom play nice to CP for a short period.

I’m very happy with the support Grant has shown Candice behind the scenes, and I know she is happy with it as well. It’s not an either/or situation.

You're kind of sounding like Candice hasn't received support from Coworkers, producers, and shethority. Yes for one day they showed support to Grant but that doesn't erase the support they've given Candice in the past and will continue to do so in the future. It feels like you're mad people showed GG support, are they not allowed to do that?

I have already explained several times that Candice is not without support or friendship. My original statements were as they stand. Grant supports Candice and presumably others in private and in a way that satisfies her. Grant has not publicly spoken up about fandom racism or the misogyny directed against his costars. CNN and TIME etc. would need a lot more than a post from Candice or Anna to write up pieces meant to shame the racists. 

Well, reading all of that was draining. I'm glad CP doesn't require the support of others to stand up for herself. I'm disappointed that she is so often there alone fending for herself (on social media). I don't know what goes on BTS and don't care. It's like having your racist grandma around a POC..."she'll call you n-word but she's old and you know I'm not like that." "Can you just tell her not to call me that?" "Huh, oh no, she won't change, just ignore her, but I like you so its ok."

I’m sorry it was difficult to read. :( And I definitely understand that feeling of helplessness.

(1)Wow. I’m really srry ppl keep misconstruing what you were saying about the GG incident. Some fans seem to be getting VERY sensitive about this situation on his behalf. You were literally just stating facts. He has never publicly defended CP from the negativity she receives from fandom. He’s not obligated to do it, but it would be nice if he did. She clearly has his support BTS but that has little to no effect on negative fandom behavior. (2)GG publicly defending CP wouldn’t automatically make the racist misogynistic haters like her, but them knowing they would potentially catch a block from him would definitely curb the negativity thrown her way, & anyone who doesn’t think so really underestimates GG’s power in this fandom.

Thank you, love. And yes, that’s pretty much all I’m saying.

What was the AV club incident ? And the dm grant sent ? :)

Grant accidentally retweeted an article praising Flash S1 that said Candice’s Iris was the weak link and she should then be recast. He picked one fan to follow and DM his apology that he hadn’t actually read the whole thing and that he loves his whole cast, then deleted his retweet. AJK kept his retweet up despite backlash, meanwhile.

I think the wording is what's throwing some Anons off. You're not saying GG has never publicly supported CP cause we all know he has The support he gave RIR being one example. I think what's being said here is people wished he "called out" that racist part of the fandom. Like you said it's not an either/or situation. GG has shown CP support both publicly and BTS but in this one area some wished he did more. Doesn't make GG a bad person nor does it remove the love and support between him and CP

You’re probably right. And yes to everything you said!

[yourkeeperoftherunners]

Avec Nocturne Ch. 5

Summary: AU A little thing called the flu forced him to call out sick for days. What he didn’t bargain for was his workplace hiring a girl to spin the tracks while he was out. He’s pissed off but why’s he thinking random thoughts about her?

Rating: PG-13 (Language, Strip Club setting, Flirting)

Characters: DJ!Chanyeol x Kit OC, featuring appearances of OT12 members

Notes: This is a spin-off (no pun intended!) series of Unwind written by @xiubaek13 and @oh-beyond. (Written with their blessing – thank you!) I own nothing except for my own OC and the content written here. (I recommend reading Unwind first to get a better understanding of the story’s universe.) I do not claim to be an expert in DJ-ing. Banner created by me. Absolutely no reposting anywhere else as your own!

Ch. 4 | Ch. 6

Relief was an understatement when Chanyeol walked into the booth the following day. Words were meaningless in describing the sensation of peace and familiarity he felt, turning on the soundboard, slipping his headphones around his neck, and fingers running across the grooves of the records on the turn tables. If his crazy life filled with mundane adult tasks (paying bills, finishing university, etc.) and the stresses of living in an apartment complex was a sound, he’d liken it to white noise.

Yet no one ever saw the chaos – he was skilled at hiding those stressful factors behind his cheerful, boisterous personality. He chalked his optimistic outlook to his mother and sister, who had similar outlooks on life: work hard and try to find the positives in a situation.

He engrossed himself in playing with a few Korean songs for a possible mashup, which made him forget about the awkward welcomes he got from Chen and Sehun earlier that evening.

While the pair hadn’t been frosty or rude per se, they were certainly acting off. Chen mumbled his hello and the smile seemed a little forced when eyes met. Sehun kept his eyes glued to the metal shaker he was polishing and was softly rapping a line from a new song playing over the radio as of this summer. He had taken a break at one point to leave Chanyeol a cold bottle of water by the booth door, placing it on the ground before saying something about getting back to work.

“You’re back! Aish, you look terrible – did you put on BB cream? If not, there’s some backstage,” Tao greeted him, rapping on the door to the booth.

“Hello Tao-yah,” Chanyeol replied, looking up from his laptop, “I blame the flu for my paleness – don’t ever get sick like that. It’s like death!”

“Yeah, so I see,” Tao sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “But seriously hyung, what color for BB cream? You could use it.”

Chanyeol raised a hand and shook his head, offering an apologetic smile to the young man. “Thank you but I don’t like wearing makeup that much. Besides, no one’s going to see my face in this lighting.”

Tao rolled his eyes before bidding him goodbye, sauntering over to the backstage entrance.

Definitely not charmed by the girl DJ, Chanyeol thought with an amused smile. Sure Tao gave him and the other staff members a hard time, but you could count on the young man to not sugar coat things – he’d tell you what he was thinking.

“YAH! You’re back! What’s this about D.O. having to restrain you?” Baekhyun demanded as he crushed the taller man in a tight hug.

Chanyeol chuckled as he hugged the shorter boy back, a smile spreading across his cheeks.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“He said we got a new DJ who was a girl but I haven’t seen her! Is she pretty? What kind of clothes does she wear?” Baekhyun asked, staring up at Chanyeol with wide, curious eyes.

Chanyeol’s face fell at the mention of Kit and he scowled, shoulders scrunching up as he pulled away from his best friend. Baekhyun immediately noticed the change in attitude and tilted his head in confusion.

“Hey, is she not here anymore? I said something wrong didn’t I? Look, I haven’t seen her and neither has Suho-hyung so naturally I’m curious!”

Chanyeol cast a side glance at his friend who was pouting cutely about his sudden gruff behavior. Most of their clientele adored him because he was “cute” or “puppy-like” and he had this way with making people feel better about their day. It was hard to stay angry at Baekhyun, even about this.

“Sorry Baekhyun-ah,” Chanyeol murmured as he softened his expression. “I hardly know her – she just works here part time and I’m guessing she’s older because Sehun and Chen call her ‘Noona’. She’s not from here, I think, ‘cause her English is good.”

“She’s an American,” Chen chimed in as he joined them outside. “Korean born but this is her first visit back since being adopted. I uh, only know this because Xiumin had me check her passport to make sure she was old enough to work here. 1990 was the birth year from what I recall.”

Crap she was older – another strike against him, Chanyeol thought as he leaned against the wall, staring off into the distance. Yesterday after he had left in a huff, he got a call from his mom, who wanted to check on him.

“Kyungsoo called and told me you came down with the flu,” she said when he picked up.

“He brought medicine and made me soup and tea Umma,” he reassured her. “I’m much better now. Finally back at work too.”

“I’ve always liked that young man – he’s a good friend to take care of you,” his mother replied with a smile. “Are you okay?”

He froze at that question and bit his lip, unsure of how to respond. The memory of Kit moving away from him, the bruising on her arms, and her wary expression toward him lingered in his mind.

“...Um uh,” he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ah Umma, I messed up. ...There was a girl, um my bosses brought her in to temporarily cover for me while I was out sick. They didn’t tell me but when I came in today and saw her in the booth, I um...I got upset. I yelled and...I’m really sorry.”

“...Chanyeol,” his mother said in a soft voice, “I’m sure it wasn’t her fault. She was only doing what was told of her. Try putting yourself in her shoes – if your bosses told you that you had to play music until someone returned, no specific time frame mentioned, wouldn’t you continue to come in until they said something?”

He swallowed hard and nodded closing his eyes. “I screwed up Umma and I know it was wrong. But...I got so upset because...that’s my favorite place to be. When I step into the booth, I put those headphones on and for a while, I’m not thinking about being an adult or all of the responsibilities I need to handle. I’m doing something I want that I like. I, I don’t think I was mad at her but maybe...”

“Your bosses should have spoken up I agree,” his mother reassured him. “I’m sure they never intended to betray you or make it seem like you were being replaced. Kyungsoo said you gave them notice despite being bedridden and they likely scrambled and tried to come up with a Plan B. Was there any indication that she was unfriendly toward you?”

“No Umma, she actually introduced herself and I yelled at her,” he mumbled, feeling stupid that he had done so. “She was calm and all I did was get upset with her. I think...I think she’s scared of me though. She wouldn’t look me in the eye afterwards.”

“Did you try to apologize to her?”

He shook his head.

“Not yet Umma. But...I will, okay?”

“Chanyeol-ah! Don’t you need to get back to the booth soon?” Baekhyun asked, nudging him sharply.

Chanyeol blinked and snapped out of his trace, checking the large watch on his wrist. He had about 3 minutes to get back to the booth before his break was up.

“Thanks Baekhyun-ah,” he murmured as he pushed himself off the wall.

Chen checked his watch and claimed he needed to head back soon as well. Both slipped through the doors and walked toward the main entrance. Chen cleared his throat and addressed Chanyeol as they neared the front desk.

“Listen, I’m sorry for seeming distant Chanyeol-ah,” Chen apologized. “I’m not mad at you and I’m not saying I side with anyone, but I was shocked to see you so upset. I guess I’m so used to seeing you happy 99% of the time and didn’t realize that maybe it’s because you really like doing this.”

Chanyeol glanced over his shoulder and nodded, a small smile crossing his lips. “I forgive you Chen-ah, but I know I overreacted. Hey, I’m probably not going to see her this week, you know ‘cause of schedules, but um, would you let Kit...noona know that I’m sorry?”

Chen blinked but quickly composed himself and said he would relay the message when she came in for Thursday. He slid behind the desk and took a seat, scribbling a small memo to himself.

“Have you...ever looked up her SoundCloud page?” Chen asked as the DJ began to walk back to the main performance stage. “I mean, I know nothing about music, but she seems to have a good understanding of it, like you. Maybe you guys could talk about that after all of this?”

“I brought KFC – new recipe I wanted to try out,” D.O. announced when he stopped over at Chanyeol’s apartment. He frowned as he strained his ears, hearing a dark moody beat with a lower pitched woman’s vocals coming from the bedroom. 

“Chanyeol, are you mixing things at this hour?” D.O. asked as he tapped lightly on the door before pushing it open. He blinked when he saw Chanyeol seated at his desk, laptop opened to a SoundCloud page and it was playing a mix. His friend’s eyes were closed as he moved his hands to the beat of the music, head nodding with the downbeats.

D.O. walked closer and squinted to see the song playing, doing a double take when he saw the name on the page. “Are you listening to...?”

“Chen shared the link with me,” Chanyeol sighed as he opened his eyes, sitting up straighter. He hit Pause on the audio and turned toward D.O. “This does not leave this room. I got a little curious, okay?”

D.O. nodded to show he understood and he held up the container of fried chicken. “Plenty for a couple of nights and I made slaw to go with it. Chicken’s not too spicy so you’ll be able to tolerate it. Let me know what you think.”

Chanyeol smiled widely as he held his hands out for the container, bowing his head low to thank D.O. for the food. He yanked off the lid and placed it on the desk, taking a deep breath as the smell of spices and chicken hit his nose. He accepted the chopsticks from D.O. and snapped them in half, using them to pick up a medium piece.

“I’ll leave you be – make sure to get to bed at a decent hour,” D.O. ordered him as he turned to leave.

“Thank you Kyungsoo-yah,” Chanyeol murmured through a mouthful of chicken.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” D.O. shot back as he retreated from the bedroom.

Chanyeol swiveled around in his seat and pressed Play again, closing his eyes as the female vocals crooned over the sharp, EDM beats:

They told me you were never gonna let me get away And if you tell me fiction, you will never get me back I had to get away, I had to get away, ay, ay

He swallowed a bite of chicken and sighed as he put down the piece, reaching for his water beside the laptop. Okay, she could actually mix, period. Her song choices matched up well and transitions were pretty seamless. Upon quick glance at the clock at the top of his screen, he realized he had been listening to her mixes for almost an hour and a half. No he wasn’t obsessed, but maybe he could squeeze in one last song mix before calling it a night.

“Research,” he rationalized as he clicked on another mashup posted to her page.

“You wanted me to come in? But I thought it was Chanyeol’s day?” Kit asked as she met Xiumin at the front. She had gotten a call in the morning asking her to come in the early afternoon – something important to discuss. She was surprised to find the club completely dead – even Chen wasn’t there at the front desk to lend a friendly face. Xiumin had to let her in and he was ushering her back to the office.

“Yes, tonight he will play as usual, but there’s something else we need to discuss with both of you,” Xiumin explained as he opened the door. He gestured for her to go first and she hesitantly stepped through the entrance, seeing Luhan seated at the desk and Chanyeol in the same seat as the previous time.

Kit bit back a sigh as she took a seat in the same chair and set her bag down beside her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. She kept her eyes straight ahead and waited for the managers to speak.

“Thank you both for coming in on such short notice,” Luhan said with a polite smile. “What we’re about to discuss is top secret and cannot leave this room. It involves the VIP program we have here.” He moved his seat back slightly and opened a drawer in the desk, pulling out a blank confidentiality form from a folder. He closed the drawer and passed the form over to Kit, followed by an elaborate Mont Blanc fountain pen. “Please read and sign at the bottom.”

Kit blinked as she accepted the form and the pen, bringing it closer so she could read the tiny font for some of the detailed areas of the agreement. She tried to read it quickly but thoroughly, not wanting to sign her life away. After a few minutes, she uncapped the pen, leaned forward, and scrawled ‘Kit N. Adler’ on the line at the bottom of the page. She passed the form and pen back to Luhan, who thanked her with a brief nod of his head.

Chanyeol watched as she did this, lacing his fingers together in his lap. If this was for what he thought it was, then...

“Let me guess – we’re closing the place to the general for some high rollers?” Kit offered as she leaned back in her seat.

Xiumin nodded sharply and added, “Yes, but we didn’t just have you sign this agreement for their safety. You see, these are very special VIP clients – we have a very limited staff working when they’re here. We ask that you do not share details of this experience with anyone else working here. Understood?”

“Crystal,” she uttered with a nod. “So you need both of us?”

“Yes, but not just music,” Luhan replied as he laced his long fingers together. He brought his index fingers to his lips and tapped them lightly with a thoughtful look. “Chanyeol, you are familiar with the set-up and equipment for this scenario, I need you to train Kit this afternoon for this event. I trust you’ll be able to work peacefully together without any problems?”

Both DJs exchanged a look and Kit swallowed the lump in her throat as she managed a faint sideways nod and Chanyeol pushed out a somewhat convincing smile.

“Good! Now I’ll leave you two to prepare,” Luhan said as he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “Remember, you both are to remain silent on the details of this VIP experience with those working in the club and outside. Believe me when I say that the consequences for violating the agreement aren’t...pleasant.”

The DJs rose from their seats, bowing their heads before exiting the office. They walked to the main performance hall in silence, Chanyeol sneaking a few looks over his shoulder at Kit, who was looking around the hallway to avoid eye contact. Once they made it to the hall, Chanyeol dug around in his pockets for his set of keys and began looking for the one to open the DJ booth.

“I feel like I’m a stagehand again,” Kit muttered to herself as she gripped the strap on her bag.

“Eh? Stage what?” Chanyeol asked as he glanced back at her with a confused look.

Kit tore her gaze from the ground and shrugged indifferently. “Just forget it – I’m rambling.”

Chanyeol stared at her before locating the key, inserting it into the lock. He stuffed the keys into his pocket and began turning on the machines, stepping to the far right to give Kit room to enter.

“You um, already know all of this,” he murmured as he gestured to the turn tables and mixing equipment. “Luhan didn’t mention what this does though, right?” He pointed to a separate switchboard which was unmarked and he bent down to ensure everything was hooked up properly. As he checked the connections for the separate set of controls, he cleared his throat awkwardly.

“You did drama?” he persisted with a tilt of his head.

“No I helped with lighting, background, and making the actors look good,” Kit replied as her hand moved from her bag strap to her arm. “That was way back in high school. Look, you don’t have to pretend to be interested – I know I’m wrecking the bro code here and –”

“I’m sorry,” he interrupted her.

Kit raised a brow and stared at him in surprise.

Chanyeol turned his attention from the switchboard and looked up from where he was kneeling. “I said, I’m sorry...noona. For the bruises. For...um, yelling.” He dropped his hands to his sides and began looking around the booth. “This booth is my safe space. When I’m here, I can be free. I’m not stressed about life or what’s expected of me as an adult. Here, I can call the shots and make my own rules, well sort of.”

Kit let go of her arm and she scanned his face for his expression. She hoisted her bag up and slipped the strap up and over her head, placing it on the ground against the back wall of the booth.

“I get it,” she said. “D.O. mentioned that you were in the dark when I first started. In my defense, I’ve determined both Mr. Cat Eyes and Mr. Fancy Pants prefer to amp up the air of mystery instead of laying it all on the table right away.” She mimicked Xiumin waving his hand away when she asked her burning questions on the first day. “You’ll meet everyone later. We’ll discuss payment later, but don’t worry, we will pay for your services. Oh and doors open soon!”

Chanyeol snickered at her impression of the manager. He straightened up and tried to stand up, almost falling on his butt until Kit offered a hand. He mumbled a thank you before he hoisted himself up and pretended to dust off his clothes. He cleared his throat and pointed to the controls on this special switchboard.

“This one controls the water features,” he explained as he pointed to the stage. “This will turn it on, this is for the amount of water...”

Song List

Trainwrecked by a Monster – Trainwrecked (BANKS) and Monster (EXO)

[paranoid-rhythm]

Translation: Joker Game Drama CD A Parody Box Full of What-Ifs Part 1

And… I’m now back to shit post in this fandom. T

This is the latest and last (for now, I guess?) drama CD… and… yeah

I cannot even--… it’s just… is this even still Joker Game???

Are people still even reading this? Do you even still need translations for this?! Sorry I’m just jsdfjkasdfas because I lost the file for this twice, thanks to power interruptions

 Warning: My fingers fell off while translating this, it’s 4825 words of pure crack. Seriously. I don’t know anymore. Also, seriously, don’t repost on other sites. Just link back to this post. orz

Will be updated once I finish with the other tracks.

Translation under the cut! Have fun, don’t read this in public or while eating. Or drinking. 

Part 2 - 第2話「Zoo Parody~ What If Sakuma-san Became a Zookeeper~」 Part 3 - 第3話「Restaurant Parody~ What If Sakuma-san Is The Part-timers’ Leader~」

第1話「RPG Parody~ What If Sakuma-san Became A Hero~」

Sakuma: Drama CD, Joker Game

Miyoshi: A Parody Box Full of What-Ifs

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: Born on a small town in the island nation of Japan, who for the sake of the world and for the sake of the people, continued to travel, I am the hero Sakuma. After arriving in a certain country, a rumor reached my ears. It seems like the Demon King living on the eastern forest has been kidnapping people one after the other and turning them into his servants. I cannot stand to let this continue, that’s why I promise that with my own two hands, I will defeat the Demon King and bring back the people who were kidnapped! Together with the sorcerer, Miyoshi and the sage Jitsui, we aim for the forest where the Demon King lives!

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

*Sakuma fighting with slimes*

Sakuma: One after the other, this doesn’t end!

Miyoshi: You’ve been collecting a lot of that grass, what are you going to use it for?

Jitsui: If I dry and then crush them, they’ll be great to replenish MP with. They’re different than the ones being sold at the town, since they can replenish up to the maximum MP in one go.

Miyoshi: Heh, that’s the first I’ve heard of that.

Jitsui: Though, they’re bitter to the point of making one throw up.

Miyoshi: They do say that the best medicine are the bitter ones. Oh, ants!

Jitsui: Seeing ants march like that, aren’t they kind of cute?

Miyoshi: Oh, have you finished?

Jitsui: Thanks for your hard work!

Sakuma: Help me a little, why don’t you?!

Miyoshi: We were having an important conversation about ants.

Sakuma: What’s so important about that conversation?!

Jitsui: Fighting those slimes took a longer time than expected of you, Sakuma-san. I don’t think they’re strong enemies though…

Sakuma: One by one, they’re weak but there’s just too much of them! Not to mention that slimes can replicate themselves, so their numbers just increase! That’s why I’m telling you that fighting them with all of three of us together is the way to go!

Miyoshi: I’ll gladly help fight with anything but slimes. To be honest, I really hate how they’re so squishy.

Sakuma: So it’s just a matter of you being fussy!? You fight with magic anyway, so it’s not like you’re going to touch them directly, so it doesn’t matter!

Miyoshi: It does matter, though I don’t think Sakuma-san would be able to understand it. It’s about how I feel.

Sakuma: Grr… Jitsui!

Jitsui: I’m sorry, but it’s not in my job title to fight, so…

Miyoshi: I remember you shoulder-throwing a bear-like monster the other day…

Jitsui: It was just a one-time spurt of power on the battle field.

Sakuma: Didn’t you also beat those bandits within an inch of their lives, because they mistook you for a girl and tried to take you away?!

Jitsui: It was because someone grabbed my arm suddenly, I got scared, so I unconsciously did it…

Sakuma: Haaaah, seriously! This is why my sword gets beat up fast! At this rate, if I didn’t get this repaired at the next town--…

Miyoshi: Then why don’t you buy new equipment?

Sakuma: It’s because you guys keep on buying expensive food and books, wasting our money carelessly that we’re running out of money! Look! Even my equipment is still the ones from when I went out of my village!

Jitsui: It’s amazing how you reached level 30 with those beginner’s equipment!

Miyoshi: It really something amazing, isn’t it?

Sakuma: You guys! I’m telling you--…

Miyoshi: Can’t you save your scolding for later and let’s get out of this place?

Sakuma: Huh? W-why?!

Jitsui: A slime escaped earlier, so thinking about how they act, it’s highly likely that a boss monster would appear soon--…

Sakuma: W-wha--… what--…

Jitsui: Oops, a little too late, I think?

Sakuma: Aaah…. SAY THAT EARLIER!!!

Miyoshi: How disgusting.

Sakuma: Is now the time to be saying that?! Jitsui! Can’t you do something about this guy?!

Jitsui: I don’t think its size would add to anything but, I do worry about Sakuma-san’s beat up--… I mean, dated sword…

Sakuma: Well, I’m sorry that it’s beat up! This is bad, get back--…?!

Miyoshi: Please duck.

*Miyoshi casts a fire spell*

Sakuma: HOT! SO HOT!

Miyoshi: As you suggested earlier, I helped out.

Jitsui: Ooh! That was a wonderful flame magic!

Sakuma: Couldn’t you have warned me before casting a spell?!

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: Before moving on with the story, I’ll introduce my two companions. The first is the sorcerer, Miyoshi.

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Miyoshi: Are you telling me that all three of us would share a room again tonight?

Jitsui: Well, it can’t be helped, we are poor after all.

Miyoshi: *sighs*

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: A sorcerer class. Though I’ve been traveling with him for quite some time now, his identity is still a mystery to me. He has high confidence in his skill as a sorcerer and it’s not an exaggeration when he says that there is no magic that he cannot use. But even so, he keeps on making excuses not to fight, so it’s becoming a burden.

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Jitsui: Oh yeah, there were a lot of interesting books in the used books shop I went to earlier. There were even texts in languages that I haven’t seen before!

Miyoshi: Buying that much, wouldn’t they just be in the way?

Jitsui: It’s alright, I can remember everything once I read it, so I can just leave the ones I’ve finished reading at the inn.

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: Jitsui, a sage class. He’s read a countless amount of books, and with the incredible amount of knowledge that he’s gathered, he’s like a walking library. He’s also a prodigy in planning and medicine, he can make efficient medicine. Though he looks weak, the truth is, he’s even stronger than even me and Miyoshi.

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: *sighs*

Miyoshi: You’ve been sighing quite a lot. Did the burns you got from earlier still hurt?

Jitsui: Should we apply some more burn ointment? They’ll sting quite a lot though~

Sakuma: No, that’s not it! And there’s no need for the medicine! We’re low on funds! After paying for our lodging and weapon repair earlier, there’s not much left. If this continues, not only that we won’t even be able to eat nor pay for lodging the next time, we can’t even continue our journey!

Jitsui: Then, should we give up on defeating the Demon King?

Miyoshi: Though, there’s nothing more uncool than giving up due to that reason.

Sakuma: As if I could just throw this out the window half way! Aaargh!

Miyoshi: I don’t think there’s a reason to be so worked up about that. If we don’t have money, then it’s just the simple matter of making some! Monsters come out of the woodwork anyway, even if you just walk through the grasslands.

Sakuma: Even if you say that, with my equipment being tattered, I can only fight low level monsters! And no matter how many I fight, as long as they’re weak monsters, I can’t get much money! And without much money, I can’t replace my equipment!

Jitsui: It’s truly, a vicious cycle, isn’t it?

Sakuma: Arrgh! This is no good! What should I do?!

Jitsui: Then, what about taking on a quest?

Sakuma: A quest…? That’s right, we did that last time! Not only it would help people, we could also earn money from it! That’s truly a good idea!

Miyoshi: Things like weeding a garden or walking a dog?

Jitsui: It seems like Sakuma-san just gets ripped off on his quests, doesn’t he?

Miyoshi: It’s fine to be picky with jobs, you know, Mr. Hero?

Sakuma: I-it’s fine! Helping people out in need is the correct path for a hero! I’m not doing anything wrong!

Miyoshi: Being a stuck up hero like that is no good though. Blindly accepting requests like that would just be like fighting with the weak monsters, you won’t be able to make much money.

Jitsui: If that’s so, then why don’t we take up a bodyguard job? I think that would pay higher!

Sakuma: It’s true that it would’ve paid higher but because Miyoshi said something rude the last time, we were fired right in the middle of the job!

Miyoshi: I was just telling the truth that time.

Sakuma: Besides! The reason that we have no money is you guys! Just as I say that we need to save up, you guys keep on buying completely unnecessary items!

Miyoshi: If we don’t get picky with our food, then we’re no different than cattle.

Jitsui: Books are treasures after all~

Sakuma: I’ve grown tired of those excuses!

Shiozuka (Fukumoto using his Shiozuka voice): Thanks for waiting! Here’s your smoked salmon terrine, red chicken soup with grilled croutons and, tomato and ricotta cheese pasta!

Sakuma: Let’s put our discussion about our money for another time and just eat for now.

Jitsui: I agree!

Shizuoka: Excuse me…

Sakuma: Huh? Is something the matter?

Shizuoka: I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but… are you perchance, looking for a quest?

Sakuma: Ah--… eh… yeah…

Shizuoka: Ah, that’s great! Actually, there’s something that I’d like you to help out with, would you listen to my story?

Sakuma: If you’re fine with us, then please, by all means!

Shizuoka: Thank you very much! The truth is, around these parts, a robber has been appearing on the back mountains…

Sakuma: A robber?

Shizuoka: This is the first time it’s happened and it’s been affecting the peace of our town and while thinking out of countermeasures against the robber, the damages just incur! We’ve actually thought of going to the council to ask for help! The reward is 1 million gold, so if it’s alright with you…

Sakuma: 1 million?!

Jitsui: Just for the task of apprehending the robber, isn’t that amount a bit too big? Is it a big syndicate after all?

Shizuoka: No, I heard that it’s just one guy… as I said earlier, it’s the first time that this happened, so we’re at a loss on what to do…

Miyoshi: What would you do, Sakuma-san?

Sakuma: I understand, we’ll accept the request!

Shizuoka: Really?!

Sakuma: Yes! Early tomorrow morning, we’ll be heading out to the back mountains!

Fukumoto: That’s really a big help, thank you very much! Then, I leave it to your hands!

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Miyoshi: Are you sure about this, since it’s a confidential agreement?

Sakuma: Well, it can’t be helped since they’re troubled! Besides, this would help us too, so there’s nothing to lose!

Jitsui: If we had 1 million, then you can buy new equipment all at once!

Sakuma: Yeah! I can finally change into equipment suited for my level! Finally, we have a hope of defeating the Demon King!

Miyoshi: Sakuma-san, why do you think that the Demon King is evil?

Sakuma: Hm? What do you mean?

Miyoshi: Nothing, I just wanted to say that if you change your position and viewpoint of things, your view of what’s good and evil would also change.

Sakuma: Huh…?

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Sakuma: Isn’t this trail just for animals?! O-ow!

Miyoshi: If you’re going to fall down, please fall down by yourself.

Sakuma: Don’t you have care for your companions?! Huh? What’s this? Why are my eyes tingling…?

Jitsui: Sakuma-san, your status is “poisoned” right now, maybe you were poisoned by a plant around here.

Miyoshi: *sighs* *heals Sakuma*

Sakuma: Ah, that feels better! Miyoshi, did you heal me?

Miyoshi: If you’re careless like that, your status would be affected and that’s troublesome. Even Jitsui’s potions have a limit.

Sakuma: Hm?

Jitsui: Someone’s coming…

Shimano (Hatano using his Shimano voice): Excuse me… I think I’ve lost my way, do you know the path where I can go down the mountain?

Sakuma: Ah! Just go straight on this path and you’ll eventually reach the town! We’ve also just come from town, so I think you won’t get lost if you follow our footsteps.

Shimano: Thank you very much--…!! *trips, lands on Sakuma*

Sakuma: Are you alright?!

Shimano: I’m sorry, thanks! This mountain trail is just so hard to walk on…

Sakuma: Ah, I get you! I myself tripped earlier!

Miyoshi: Tricking people like that, how disgusting.

Sakuma: Hm? Did you say something, Miyoshi?

Jitsui: Sakuma-san, please check your wallet.

Sakuma: Wallet? Huh?! Huh?! Huh?! It’s not here!?

Miyoshi: Wearing round glasses and a hat, why don’t you quit that cliché disguise?

Hatano: Aaah, ah~ I’ve picked a troublesome one!

Sakuma: Wha--...?!

Hatano: And here I thought that I’ll let you all go with just the blockheaded hero’s wallet! Since I’ve been found out, I’ll be taking everything you have that’s of value!

Sakuma: So you are the robber?!

Hatano: How slow!

Miyoshi: Our here hero is a simpleton--… I mean, pure.

Jitsui: The word “distrust” does not exist in his brain.

Hatano: No matter you word it, that is so not a compliment!

Sakuma: Living as a robber, why don’t you change your lifestyle instead?! Tricking and robbing people, if your parents knew of this, they’ll be sad!

Hatano: I’d rather you not scold me here right now...

Sakuma: Besides, it’s pointless even if you try to rob us now! Because everything we own is in that wallet!

Hatano: E-everything you say?! Let’s see… 300… 325 gold?!

Jitsui: Huh? That’s less than what we counted this morning…

Miyoshi: I bought milk tea earlier.

Sakuma: Miyoshi! Didn’t I tell you to control yourself!?

Hatano: You gotta be kidding me, right?! 300 isn’t even enough as picnic allowance! Hah! It’s a miracle that you’ve come this far being that poor!

Sakuma: Heh! If we capture you during this mission, we’ll get a reward of 1 million gold, and we’ll make do with that!

Hatano: And you even had the nerve to declare that proudly?!

Sakuma: Enough of this chitchat, it’s time to battle! I’ll be the one to face you!

Hatano: Uwah! What the hell is with that sword?! Isn’t that a beginner’s equipment?!

Miyoshi: He looks surprised…

Sakuma: Are you overwhelmed?!

Jitsui: He probably is overwhelmed… by how old your equipment are.

Sakuma: What’s wrong?! Aren’t you gonna attack?!

Hatano: Yeah… I mean, I didn’t expect that the hero would be such an utter failure, so I’m wondering how to report this to the Demon King--… AHH!!

Miyoshi: Demon King, huh…

Jitsui: I see. So you’re an underling of the Demon King, huh?

Hatano: Ah–… no! What I said just now was just an expression–…!!

Sakuma: Capture him–…!

*Miyoshi casts a spell without warning*

Sakuma: MIYOSHI!

Hatano: Cold!

Sakuma: DIDN’T I TELL YOU TO WARN US BEFORE CASTING A SPELL?! YOU’VE EVEN GOTTEN ME CAUGHT UP!

Miyoshi: You mean like shouting the spell’s name beforehand? So uncool.

Jitsui: Let’s tie him up with this rope!

Sakuma: Where did you get that from?!

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Sakuma: Now! Tell us everything that you know about the Demon King!

Hatano: I don’t know much…

Miyoshi: Heeh…

Hatano: I’m telling you the truth!

Sakuma: It’s pointless even if you lie!

Hatano: All I know is that to enter the castle where the Demon King lives, you’ll need a key.

Sakuma: A key?

Hatano: That key seems to be in the possession of a man named Gordon. If you ask the people in the town beyond this mountain, you’ll immediately be able to find the mansion where he lives.

Jitsui: I see. Then, what should we do?

Miyoshi: Do we report and bring this guy back for the meantime?

Shizuoka: Perfect timing!

Sakuma: The one from the restaurant--…

Shizuoka: You guys were taking so long, I got worried so I went to check on you! Really, thanks for capturing the robber! I knew I wasn’t mistaken in choosing you!

Sakuma: It’s nothing, we’re happy that we were able to help! About this guy…

Shizuoka: I’ve called some guys over, so we’ll take care of the rest! Oh, I almost forgot! Here, the payment, please accept it!

Sakuma: Thank you very much!

Shizuoka: Why don’t you stay in our town tonight as well? I’ll treat you guys!

Sakuma: We’re in a hurry, so we appreciate the thought.

Shizuoka: Is that so? Then, thank you very much and please be careful on your way!

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Fukumoto: Why are you drenched?

Hatano: I suddenly got hit by water magic! Hey, hurry up and cut the rope! Finally! I told them about the location of the key, but are you sure that guy is okay?

Fukumoto: If the Demon King said so, then we have no reason to doubt.

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Gordon: That’s what I’m telling you! There’s nothing here!

Sakuma: If there’s nothing, then it wouldn’t bother you even if we searched!

Gordon: If you want to search a person’s house, then provide a solid evidence! Just saying that I’m connected to the Demon King without any proof is unacceptable!

Sakuma: W-what he said is right…

Gordon: I’m a busy person, so please leave already!

Miyoshi: Please don’t get so worked up. It seems that you’re very interested in the culture of the country, Japan…

Gordon: H-how did you--…?!

Jitsui: Well, the people told us when we were asking about the whereabouts of this mansion, since this is the only mansion in this small town. Also, we heard the rumors that the master of the house also does not show himself frequently.

Miyoshi: Things like, he has his prided collection inside his mansion, or that he’s intent on collecting money for his hobbies, or how he always has something delivered via mail order to his house almost daily.

Gordon: M-my personal information is being leaked!

Miyoshi: Well, we don’t know what’s true or not but, if you’re really that interested in Japanese culture, then I have good news for you.

Gordon: Huh?

Miyoshi: Our hero here is from your beloved country, Japan. If you let us search your mansion and we found nothing, then... we’ll have the hero would perform hara-kiri.

Sakuma: Wai--… huh?!

Jitsui: Oh, seppuku?!

Gordon: That’s interesting! Why not then!

Sakuma: Wait one moment! That’s not good for me!

Gordon: Even I who has collected a lot about the Japanese culture, has not witnessed a hara-kiri! If you’re saying that much, then I allow you to search my mansion! But, I’ll be looking forward as to when you don’t find anything!

Sakuma: Eh?! H-hey Miyoshi?! What are you saying so selfishly?!

Miyoshi: I had no choice. If I didn’t say that, then we wouldn’t be able to search.

Sakuma: You’d better have an idea where the key is!

Miyoshi: Who knows~

Sakuma: W-what do you mean “who knows”?!

Jitsui: Sakuma-san, please calm down. It’s most likely no coincidence that we’re standing here now. This probably, is something instigated by the Demon King. If you think about it, that quest earlier is unnatural. It’s highly likely that the restaurant owner and that robber worked together to get us here. If you think about it that way, it all adds up.

Sakuma: What?!

Miyoshi: Seeing that the hero’s arrival is very late, maybe the Demon King was worried.

Sakuma: Why would a hero worry the Demon King…?

Jitsui: Well, since this is the path that the Demon King set out for us, then there must be something in here. At least that much I can affirm.

Sakuma: J-Jitsui!

Jitsui: But, in case there really is nothing, then, it’s all in your hands~

Gordon: Now, what are you going to do?

Sakuma: Fine!

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: After that, entering and searching all possible places inside Gordon’s mansion, we didn’t find the key.

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Gordon: How is it going~ have you found it~?

Sakuma: No, not yet!

Miyoshi: Sakuma-san, there’s something in the bedroom that caught my eye.

Sakuma: Something?

Miyoshi: There seems to be a mark on the wall beside the bookshelf inside the bedroom. Most likely, there’s a hidden room behind that bookshelf.

Sakuma: Excuse me, but may we move the bookshelf inside the bedroom?

Gordon: N-no! T-that’s--…!!

Sakuma: You were the one who said that we can search anywhere we like. So you won’t mind even if we moved it, right?

Gordon: Urk--…!

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: W-what is this room full stuff?!

Jitsui: Oooh! It’s all Japanese otaku culture, isn’t it?

Sakuma: Not only the all the walls, but also the ceiling has posters tacked on it!

Miyoshi: With this number of figures, I wonder how much money all of this is worth~

Gordon: D-don’t be mistaken! I just gathered all these for examining Japanese culture!

Jitsui: Enough for mail order every day?

Miyoshi: How passionate~

Gordon: A-as I said! This is for investigating Japanese culture! It’s not my hobby--…

Miyoshi: If it isn’t, then it’ll be alright if I burned this pillow?

Gordon: STOP IT! DON’T TOUCH THAT! THAT’S A SPECIAL PREMIUM ITEM THAT ONE CAN ONLY GET VIA LOTTERY, ONLY FIVE OF THOSE WERE EVER RELEASED!

Jitsui: You’re pretty fired up, I thought this was just for investigation?

Gordon: S-sorry, I got carried away…

Sakuma: This room is full of faces, I can’t calm down. But even so, this is impressive. Especially this doll, it’s almost life-like.

Gordon: Urk--…!!

Jitsui: That’s what’s called a life sized figure, isn’t it? Basing on its size, this one is easily worth 1 million gold!

Sakuma: 1 mill--… that’s the same price I needed to upgrade my equipment!

Gordon: Aaargh!

Miyoshi: I see.

Sakuma: A-anyway! It’s not good to stay in this room for long! Let’s search the other rooms again!

Miyoshi: “Not meant to be touched”… don’t you think that it’s perfect to hide the key in such a place?

Sakuma: Not meant to be touched…? Are you talking about something in this room?

Miyoshi: Like hiding it inside clothes… it’s a well-known strategy even.

Gordon: UWAAAAH!

Sakuma:  Clothes? N-no… no way!

Miyoshi: Why don’t you check? It’s just a doll after all.

Jitsui: That’s true. No matter how rough you do it, it’s just a doll after all~

Sakuma: F-fine, I get it! Well then, please excuse my rudeness!

Gordon: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Jitsui: Isn’t that great? We got the key to the castle without much incident!

Miyoshi: Are you alright, Sakuma-san?

Sakuma: I think I suffered a sizable amount of mental damage…

Jitsui: Unfortunately, there’s no cure for that even with medicine or magic~! Besides, there’s nothing to worry about! You only just thrust your hand inside a doll’s--…

Sakuma: STOP! DON’T SAY ANY MORE! I--… JUST WHAT DID I DO TO A LADY’S BODY?! I REALLY SHOULD COMMIT SEPPUKU!

Miyoshi: Making such a fuss about it, it was just a doll anyway.

Jitsui: At least, we’ve found the key and completed our quest and thanks to that, we also have money! You should upgrade your equipment and we should head off to the Demon King’s castle!

Sakuma: That’s right… I shouldn’t be disheartened here!

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: Upgrading our equipment to ones that would be powerful enough to take the Demon King down, us the hero party marched on to the deep, dark Eastern Forest where the Demon King’s castle lies. And as last, we’ve reached the Demon King’s castle.

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: No matter what I do, it won’t open…

Miyoshi: Isn’t it time for the key we got in Gordon’s mansion to debut?

Jitsui: Let’s try using it!

Sakuma: Yeah.

*Heavy doors creaking open*

Sakuma: Hmm… it’s so dark, I can’t see anything.

Jitsui: Miyoshi-san, what about your magic?

Miyoshi: The barrier is keeping me from using it, so, impossible.

*Lights open one by one*

Sakuma: T-the lights in the dining area are--…

Demon King: Took you a long time.

Sakuma: So you’re the Demon King?!

Demon King: Heh.

Sakuma: I know that you’ve been kidnapping innocent people and making them into your underlings! I’ll have you return all the people that you’ve taken!

Demon King: If you’re talking about returning, then I’ll have you return what’s mine first.

Sakuma: Huh?!

Miyoshi: Hm.

Sakuma: Huh?! M-Miyoshi?!

Miyoshi: We are, after all from this side all along.

Sakuma: “We”?!

Jitsui: I’m sorry, Sakuma-san. It was fun until now!

Sakuma: Ji... Jitsui?! N-no way… you two being my companions, it was planned all along from the start?!

Demon King: It seems that you’re misunderstanding something. Not once have I ever forced humans to come to my side.

Sakuma: Are you saying that they chose to go to you on their own?! You bastard--… no, you bastards!! Just what are you planning?!

Demon King: In order for demons to live alongside humans, there needs to be adequate information about both sides. If both has enough information, then pointless fighting can be avoided. It is for that reason that they are collecting information.

Sakuma: Placing spies within the humans, such cowardly--…!!

Demon King: Spies are cowards?

Sakuma: Of course they are cowards!

Demon King: They are spying so that both sides can coexist peacefully, if you think that’s evil, then be my guest. I have led you here in hopes to help our cause. How about it, do you have any interest in joining us?

Sakuma: W-what?!

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Miyoshi: …I just wanted to say that if you change your position and viewpoint of things, your view of what’s good and evil would also change.

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Miyoshi: We’d love to welcome you on our side, Sakuma-san.

Jitsui: As much as possible, I’d rather not make you our enemy.

Demon King: Heh.

ｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘｘ

Sakuma: After going this far and reaching the Demon King’s castle, I’ve unexpectedly, been betrayed. But now that I’ve known the Demon King’s true intention, my heart is wavering.

I--… I--…!!

To be continued...???

TN:  Thank you for reading this far, I appreciate it. Srsly if they don’t continue this, I’ll be murdering people--...

[7goodangel]

7goodangel’s FAQ

( Can also be found at https://7goodangel.tumblr.com/faq )

[This version is made so then it can be easily searched within the blog and be easier for mobile users to find! Will reblog when an update to the FAQ happens! The original page will still be up as well as the post version of it. FAQ is under the Read More to not clutter up the dashboard. Please read this prior to sending questions!]

((Updated - 01/26/2020 - Updated part will be noted within FAQ)) [It will first be guidelines then general FAQ]

GUIDELINES

Q: Can I draw [character]?

A: YES! You can! Just make sure you credit me in the description! (either tag me on dA or Tumblr, or give a link to my tumblr if it’s on another website!)

–

Q: Can I write a fanfiction with [character]?

A: YES! Again, give credit where it’s due, but I am completely fine with you writing a story for one of my characters!

If there are any exceptions to those two questions, they will be mentioned below.

– **UPDATE START**

Q: Can I sell products / commissions / etc. with [character] in them?

A:  If it is a one time payment (like a one off drawing / voice / writing commission) that includes [character], that will be okay.  (refer to this post: https://7goodangel.tumblr.com/post/185382385438/so-lets-say-someone-does-comissions-and-gets)

If it is for a longer project or a line of products with [character] in them (i.e.: YouTube videos, items sold on a printing website, etc), I will have to respectfully decline for their likeness to be in/on the product. 

– **UPDATE END**

Q: Can I write/draw NSFW of [character]?

A: This is where I like to draw the line. I know I cannot police everyone and some will slip out, but I would rather not see any NSFW of any of my characters on this website or any website. My characters are very personal to me… and I just feel very awkward and horrible when I see or imagine one of my characters doing some of those actions.

But here I will try my best to say what is allowed and what isn’t allowed: Allowed:

Jokes about NSFW topics or hinting to NSFW stuff.

Leading up to the action, but then fading to black (not actually showing it)

Not allowed:

The actual action of NSFW stuff.

If the ’d’ is glowing/showing. (like heat)

Just do not want to see any of my characters do any of that stuff. But sometimes joking about it in a conversation can work. Touching, kissing, biting, hugging, cuddling, laying in the same bed - that stuff is ok. But when the actual act is happening - please - don’t show that.  

(Just note that with Paper Jam, he can really not do that. his body is unable to do that function.)

If you are wondering if what you are going to draw falls under the NSFW category for me, PLEASE do not hesitate to message me! I might say no, but then you would at least know for sure if you could do it or not. You can still draw that stuff in private, I am not stopping you there - just wanted to not see that stuff on the Internet.

Oh! I know that sometimes violence is included in the NSFW topic. GENERIC violence is ok since because of fighting and battles and etc that some of my characters do. So that’s ok! Other stuff like vore and rape will NEVER be tolerated.

–

Q: Can I repost your artwork to [Website/App Here]?

A: No. Not unless you got specific permission from me to do so. You will have to contact me and ask first, then I’ll give you a way to format the picture (basically keep the picture as-is, link to my tumblr, give credit). Do NOT repost my stuff unless you got my permission! Please!

Good rule of thumb for any artist - if you do not have permission, don’t repost it.

-

Q: Can I lineart/color/do both for a picture you have done traditionally / only lineart?

A: Ask me about that first. I have had people not ask be before doing it and most of the time if that happens, the colors or line art is messed up and is not interpreted properly. While I do like spontaneous collabs, I need you to ask me first through my inbox. Then I can provide you the right references and colors for it! If not, well, I will still appreciate it, but I will then mention about how you didn’t contact me within the comments (if I do find it). It’s just uncomfortable for me to have someone just draw over and color over stuff I did - and, in some ways and from some view points, this can be considered as art theft. Just… tread lightly and always ask before doing something like this with any artist - do not let another blog give you permission to do so - go to the artist and ask them directly.

-

Q: Can I have [character] as my icon?

A: Sure! As long as you credit the right people (character by 7goodangel, art by (whoever did the art))

-

Q: Can I create a ask/RP account for [character]?

A: No. Any kind of blog, account, etc that is used for role playing or for asking any of my characters is not allowed (or more on highly not recommended). The only exception to this would be if the character you are using is an alternate from a different AU (that has significant changes in design and personality from the original) AND if you run it by me first. I am generally pretty chill with alternates like that but due to how people misinterpret some of my characters I will have to say no to general RP and Ask blogs. 

This includes:

dA Ask/RP accounts

Tumblr Ask/RP blogs

Amino Profiles (unless you are only using the name/icon and not RPing or answering asks as said character), Amino Public Chats and RPing / Asking questions within the comments

Instagram Ask/RP accounts

Pretty much if it’s an account that says the name of any one of my characters and they are answering things as them then I strongly do not recommend doing that. 

Naming an account after one of my characters for other uses is just fine (due to how common the names I use for characters) or using an image of one of my characters as an icon is fine (as long as you got permission from the artist who made the image).

More clarification here: https://7goodangel.tumblr.com/post/175950661298/hey-i-do-not-have-a-question-but-i-idk-have-a

-

Q: Can I still RP as [RP] randomly?

A: I’m still fine with non-permanent/private RPs as my characters - just make sure that your RP partner knows that the character you RP as isn’t canon and all should be good!

These are pretty much where if you RP as a character in Private Servers / SMS / IM / etc., then you are fine. Private is A-Okay – but try not to do public ones. Thanks!

-

Q: Where do you draw the line with NSFW in RPs?

A: I draw the like at the point where most people go to a ‘Read More’. A good example of this is how askinfresh does that. And that doesn’t mean that moving to a read more is okay then - Like the NSFW question above, I do NOT want to see any PUBLIC RPs that are that type of NSFW. Hinting up to the act is ok but once the sections are exposed is where I hope that people would stop with RPS - do a fade to black and return to them after the fact.

ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE UNDERAGE. I really do not care if you like to sin and you are underage - that can get you into a lot of trouble. THAT is for YOUR safety. Just please - for any RPs or art or writing, if you are underage in your country - don’t post it. Don’t make it public.

Little note about NSFW stuff:

Now note with the NSFW stuff I point out PUBLICLY. That means that I cannot stop you from writing or drawing it in your own home or wherever you draw it privately. It becomes ‘public’, in my eyes, when someone can find it on the internet. If a kid could get to that picture or story eventually by looking through tags or searching, then I get uncomfortable. I just really want to create an environment that is family friendly. My own family knows what I do online due to me telling them about it - and I do not want to have the thought of them looking up stuff and finding NSFW of my character. Knowing that families and children could find that stuff just scares me and makes me even more uncomfortable than my own feelings about NSFW stuff (which is disliking it). I just tend to worry a lot… and I just hope that people can respect my opinion on it. I am not limiting everyone to drawing other characters - just my own. There are plenty of other creators that are more loose with their characters. Just - I do not want to get to the point of leaving Tumblr due to people not respecting other artists. It is really uncomfortable for some people and asking artists and writers goes A LONG way.

-

Q: Can you draw [character(s)]?

A: Maybe? Maybe not? It depends on what’s happening with me in real life. Most of the time I am open to suggestions, not requests. Suggestions mean that if someone gives me an idea that inspires me, I might draw it. If not, then I might not. I tend to collect the ones I like and then draw them in one sitting. Suggestions might go away when and if I start to do commissions.

—–

FAQ ON 7GOODANGEL

Q: Where are you from?

A: Earth.

-

Q: Ahahaha - no seriously where are you from/what time is it/etc?

A: I will not state my exact location due to privacy reasons. For this reason, no matter where I am located at, I use Eastern Standard Time. Why? No reason - guess Walt Disney World is in that time zone.  Just know - I'm on the Earth on a continent. Country should be obvious with some reblogs or topics but that's as far as I'll go.

-

Q: Can we be friends?

A: Sorry to say, but I cannot guarantee that. Typically my friendships happen organically, with neither of us asking to be the others friend, talking to each other for a duration of time prior to realizing that "WOAH - we only know each other for 6 months! Dude - that's crazy it feels like you've been here forever!" When at that stage, that's what I consider as a friend. So I can never guarantee this, especially if someone asks. I apologize in advance but I like a more smaller group of friends instead of a lot.That's my personal preference.

-

Q: How long have you been drawing? What programs you use? Traditional or Digital?

A: I've been drawing since 2006. I use Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5, and Drawpile if on a different computer for digital, and just whatever paper and pencils I can grab for traditional; though I do use generic color pencils, sharpie pens, a calligraphy pen for lineart, and recently trying Prismacolor markers. I like both traditional and digital and would like to do more fusions of the two styles! ^^

-

Q: Do you like to multiship? (aka What ships do you like?)

A: Yes - I do multiship and I’m pretty open to most ships. The only one’s I’ll NEVER ship are ones where if the characters are related (like a brother and sister romantic relationship? NOPE.) or if at least one character is a minor and one is an adult (NOPE - no ships like that - that’s illegal in real life so nope.)

Those two are the big nopes for me for ships. (And that also means that I hope people don’t ship my minor characters with adults or make a character of mine into a kid and ship them with an adult… that’s just… not right. Same for any of my characters who are related to another character - don’t ship siblings or relatives romantically guys.)

-

Q: [[Any question dealing with FreshxPJ or FreshPaper]]

A: I will not be answering any more questions about FreshPaper. It is due to how people have taken my opinion on the ship and warped the words to sound like I dislike ships entirely which is complete false. You can ship what you wish, draw what you wish, but just respect what creator's have as canon to their character's stories as well as their FAQs!

And to note here: Canon PJ is with a Pluris named Omni, and will eventually have a kid named Monochrome (who is an entirely different species). Canon PJ does not like Fresh and that feeling is mutual with him. 

–

Q: But how did the FreshPaper ship even start?

A: It’s a long story: It started when I was mostly on an RP account for PJ - and I interacted a lot IC and OOC with a friend who ran a Fresh account. People then started to ship us two (me and the friend) and thought of the name FreshPaper from it based on our muses. Eventually others started to experiment with the possibility of the muses in a ship and the name shifted to the ship of Fresh and Paper Jam. Some other big and known artists started to draw their versions of the ship and it pretty much exploded from there. Though it did bring some misinformation with all characters involved….But that’s the story!

___

CHARACTER SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

——

Q: Is Paper Jam / Blue Screen a Sans?

A: Nope! Neither PJ or Screen are considered as Sanses. They are children of sanscest ships but they personally are not Sanses

---

Q: Is there a bio for Paper Jam?

A: Yep! You can find it here: https://7goodangel.tumblr.com/paper-jam-bio-official It’s also in the dropdown list of link on the desktop version of my tumblr page!

((More will be added later to the FAQ))

[sakyou]

Thanatos Night Vol. 4 Seth: Animate Tokuten (Translation)

I felt like translating something cute so here’s Seth’s “Fallen Angel Night” (/)u(\) This was a preorder bonus for those who bought Seth’s CD from animate.

(Translation under the cut - Do not use/repost without permission)

We’ve arrived. It looks like we’re the only ones getting off here. Well, obviously since there’s nothing around here. But if you want to see the stars then a quiet place like this with no lights is good.

(0:28)

Alright, then lets get going. It’s seems like they’ll be a good spot around here. Well then, here. No, don’t say “Eh?” lets hold hands. Because it’s dark it’s dangerous right? Or is that a no? Then it’s fine isn’t it? Besides i’m your boyfriend so if you were to refuse i’d be seriously hurt. Come on, lets hold hands. Yeah alright then. Well lets go.

(1:05)

But even so there really are no people here. Well it’s still nice if it’s quiet since we’re always in such a busy place. Hm? What’s wrong? Could it be you’re scared? Since i’m here it’ll be fine. Whether it’s monsters or bad guys, I won’t let them lay a finger on you.  If you’re that worried then rather than hands how about arms? I mean linking arms. We’d be closer together than if we were holding hands. 

(1:52)

Well then, I might attack you. What will you do? Will you stick closer to me? What you’re fine? Even though I told you not to hold back. But, you’re no longer scared right? Yeah, I was teasing you. But it worked really well didn’t it?

(2:23)

*laughs*

I’m sorry, don’t be so mad. I’ll make it up to you. Look, i’ll treat you to the doughnut shop in front of the station and take you to the cafe too! So forgive me, okay?

(2:44)

Uwaaa amazing. This is the best place to view the stars ne. Ah, sorry. If I keep looking up i’ll fall won’t I. Hmm, ah there’s a bench. For now lets take a seat

(3:11)

Ne, aren’t you sitting kind of far away? There’s no such thing. Come on, come closer. Yeah, if we’re this close then even though it’s dark I can still see your face. Heh heh come to think of it the purpose of coming here was to see the stars. 

(3:39)

You can see them pretty well over here. I wonder if it’s because the air is clear. Yeah it’s really pretty. Even Lia-chan says some decent things occasionally. Ah my friend Liam said you see, I asked him for help and he said it would be good to go see the stars because they’re pretty. “Is that so?” I wondered but it looks like he wasn’t lying.

4:07

Ah, that came out kind of strange didn’t it? He’s a bit of a strange guy you see. Don’t worry about it too much. That aside do you remember? A long time ago on a family outing we saw a meteor shower didn’t we? Eh you forgot!? Then that thing too? 

4:30

That old man surprised you and you thought he was a monster! You got a fright. You wouldn’t let go of me all the way home. Did you remember? Really to have gone and forgotten how cruel.

(4:45)

But, going on a trip with everyone is fun but like tonight with just the two of us is nice too. Oh oh look, that really bright star is the constellation for Taurus, isn’t it nostalgic?  eeh? You forgot about this too? Even though back then I taught you all about it. I feel kind of lonely remember all of this on my own. Even though they’re memories of the two of us. 

(5:23)

Even if you apologize it’s no good. I’m really hurt. Well, if you accept this punishment then I guess I could forgive you..by saying yes, alright it’s forehead flicking time! If you cover it with your hand then we’ll have to do it again ne. 

(5:45)

No~ I won’t forgive you~ It’ll be fine it’ll be fine it won’t hurt. Come on, here I go~ *laughs* If you close your eyes won’t it be more scary? *kiss* 

(6:05)

Ne, it didn’t hurt right? *laughs* What? Did you really think I was going to flick you on the forehead? There’s no way I could do anything to hurt you. Since you’re, the girlfriend I cherish most in the world. 

(6:23)

Ah, you’re embarrassed *laughs* as I thought rather than looking at stars looking at you is absolutely fine. Cute. The truth is I want to kiss you more but, i’ll endure it. 

(6:44)

If I do anymore than this I might not be able to stop. I’m filled with feelings for you, I don’t want to make you feel bad though. Huh? *sigh* you, aren’t you a bit close? If you say it’s fine then I really won’t be able to go back though. Until morning I wont let you go, even for a second. Would you still be fine with it? 

(7:24)

You’re troubled right? That’s why you can’t say something like that. Since it’s different from when we were kids. Right now i’m your boyfriend, don’t forget that. If you’re not careful you don’t know what I might do~ Alright? Yeah, okay.

(7:53)

Uwaa cold! It feels like it suddenly gotten windy. Are you okay? Are you cold? Right? Then, lets stick a little closer together it’ll be warm like this *hugs* I won’t move. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. Not to mention there’s no one else here.

(8:22)

I said i’d endure it but, forgive me for at least this much ne? I love you. I just wanted to say it. If you were to say it too then i’d be happy. Won’t you? Thank you. I’ll cherish you for the rest of my life, because I really love you. You too, you’ll love me forever right? *kiss*