#I mean there is only four sagas left

[epicthemusicalstuff]

I don’t know if Jorge intends to keep up the current pacing for release of the sagas, but it’s crazy to think that if he does (about one saga every three months) that is possible we will have the remaining sagas in a years time?!

[delfiore]

—MY DEAREST FRIEND AND ENEMY. (1/5)

pairing: ona batlle x fem!reader

synopsis: you were ona’s biggest headache at man united, until you both move to barcelona.

word count: 3.7k

a/n: i’ve been watching the men’s game for years but i’ve finally sobered FINAL TODAY LET’S GO ENGLAND LET’S GO SPAIN (MOSTLY SPAIN)

PART II, PART III, PART IV, PART V

It started four years ago when Ona first signed for United. She didn’t notice at first the way you were always gunning for her, she was just doing her job.

But now, you were here in Barcelona with her. As she looked up at you, a soft smile on your face, everything she had buried in the past year all came rushing back.

Everyone was aware of the new signing from the States for her rival club just a couple of weeks before, a dragged-out saga of whether you were going to choose City or United. Unfortunately for her, you chose the Sky Blues.

If things had been different, maybe she wouldn’t have despised you as much as she did.

The first Manchester derby you played, she thought marking you would be easy until you dribbled past her several times to register a goal and assist. She must have been glowering at you when she walked back to the midfield line, because you shrugged before grinning at her, saying: “All in a day’s work.”

“Could I just ask what put Man City above all the other contenders for your signature?” “Well, I mean, it’s a great club with a great history, amazing players too. I’ve spoken at length with the new manager and he gave me a rough plan for next year’s project. So I’m really excited and confident that it’ll be a great destination for me.” “What do you say to the people who think you’ve chosen City for the money?” “People can think whatever they want to think. I’ll just play my game, and they can judge me all they want. It’s all anyone’s good for.” “You’ve just transferred from Portland, you’ve got an enormous price tag for the women’s game, tons of big clubs in Europe wanted you. There’s a mounting pressure on you, it seems. Do you think you’ll be up for the challenge of the Women’s Super League?” “It’s no fun if it’s not a challenge.”

Ona Batlle was what people considered a modern full-back, dangerous in attack just as she was solid in defense. But when playing against Man City, she usually has to stay back to avoid a dangerous winger finding their way into the box; you. It wasn’t her way of playing, and it frustrated her that that was what her role was while her team was struggling to create chances, especially when she knew she could help.

“I want you to stay back and mark Y/L/N. Whatever you do, do not let her out of your sight,” Casey had told her.

She hated you for caging her in, and the worst part was she wasn’t sure if she can stop you sometimes.

The night before her next game against you, she watched how you played the previous match, studied your movement carefully, and took notes. She liked that she had found a pattern. You liked to use your speed, but you also liked to taunt your defenders; a pace of prime Thierry Henry’s, and showboating tendencies like that of Neymar. It’s why you were so entertaining to watch, because every defender you faced ended up a sort of decoration to your parlor tricks, her included.

Ona never liked being second best to anybody, and certainly not to you.

And so when she was on the pitch, zeroing on you like a hawk, there was nothing stopping her from getting away from you. She didn’t need to resort to any risky challenges, she just needed to stick with you, keep you at arm’s length, and stay between you and the goal at all costs.

You may be a skilled player for your age, but controlling your temper is something you haven’t been able to achieve. She heard you cursing a few times, eventually earning you a yellow card when your insults were directed at the referee.

The ball had only left the City’s goalkeeper, Roebuck, yet she already felt you pushing back against her.

The game ended 3-1 for United, but she was secretly much happier that she had managed to piss you off so much, that you didn’t bother shaking hands with her afterwards.

“Congratulations, Ona. A huge victory for United. What do you think went well today?” “I think that our plans worked because we practiced and showed what we’re able to do. We didn’t have a lot of possession, but we focused on the counterattacks, and I think that definitely was a very effective tactic today.” “I have to ask you about Y/N Y/L/N. She’s been a formidable player in the league until now, and notoriously difficult to defend against, but she was practically silenced today on the left-hand side. Do you think you had something to do with that?” “I think what I’ve prepared in defense has worked out, for sure. I’ve also got my teammates to thank for covering the grounds for me. Y/L/N is a good player, and it’s always a joy to play against her.”

Her rivalry with you continued, and soon even the press was picking up on it. Manchester derbies now included Y/L/N v. Batlle, and everyone was predicting what crazy thing would happen next. It wasn’t common for defenders to make waves in the paper compared to superstar strikers or even midfielders unless they were linked with a big move. But soon Ona was reading about herself in the news, how she has defended Manchester United’s left wing with an iron grip, how they started calling her la matadora, for her ability to hold off forwards and tame them like bullfighters do.

One bull remained to be tamed though, and her conundrum continued into her second season at United.

Unlike her, you seemed to take the new breath of fame easily enough. Day in and day out, there were news of you scoring goals and bringing Man City to the top of the table by November.

You were born to be a star.

But Ona knew from shooting stars in the game that burned out too quickly; if you let what’s outside the pitch get to you, you might as well just leave it altogether. You might have been a good player, on your way to becoming a great one even, but you did have a flare for the dramatics which riled up the press quite a bit. If she was lucky, maybe the pressure would take you out of the game before she does.

International breaks were times she always look forward to, being able to represent her country. Even if they were friendly matches, she knew Spain was always being watched, as a team’s form was important on the world stage. The team would play two friendly matches, the first one being against Brazil and the other against the United States. Some friendly fixtures . . .

Brazil was a breeze, mainly because she wouldn’t have to face her biggest adversary. Naturally, you were called up to your national team, and the back-and-forth game persisted.

She had played against you many times at club level, but the way you played for your country was something else. There was more passion to the way you weave your way through defenders, more flare to your shots. It could also be the adrenaline of being called up for the first time, and wanting to prove yourself—she knew that feeling well.

It didn’t come as a surprise, then, that when a long ball was played over the defense line and Marta Cardona was on her way towards goal, you’d be there to strike her down right at the edge of the box. Her teammates appealed, and the referee paused the game, but all Ona saw was red. With a speed she didn’t know she had in her, she sprinted to you and shoved you away as you were bending down in a show of checking on Marta.

“What was that?! You could have broken her ankle, cabrona!”

“Watch it.”

You had never seen her so angry before—her jaw locked as she continued to hurl insults at you. If she wasn’t your mortal enemy maybe you could have found it attractive. So you pushed back, and soon both your teammates and hers crowded around you, trying to separate you. Kelley put her arm around your neck and walked away, telling you to “keep your cool, this is only a friendly”.

Never, you thought. Never while I’m playing against her.

You apologized to Marta eventually, and she was cool with it. “Heat of the moment”, she said, and you were grateful. You never meant to hurt anyone. Sometimes you just couldn’t control your adrenaline spike.

As expected, Ona didn’t even look at you after the match. So you went home with Marta.

The next morning at breakfast, Ona heard laughing from the girls surrounding Marta.

“How was your American late-night snack, Marta?” Leila laughed.

The girl only shook her head with a grin. “It was delicious, alright.”

Ona didn’t know what that twisted feeling in her gut was when she heard what Marta said, as she walked back to her hotel room after breakfast. She just knew that as long as she was alive, you were the most despicable person she knew.

ESPN: Y/L/N-Batlle Feud Continues, Bonmatí Controls Midfield in Spain-USWNT Clash “LOS ANGELES -- Thursday night saw a friendly match between Spain’s women's national team and the USWNT at the Snapdragon Stadium that ended in a 2-2 draw. Several debutants started for both teams, including Man City powerhouse Y/N Y/L/N. After a stunning cross into the box from the left for Mallory Pugh to tap in, a dangerous slide tackle on Marta Cardona ensured Y/L/N to be the heart of a confrontation between several players, including Ona Batlle. It seems their club rivalry persists as they were seen giving each other a very clear piece of their minds, and several clashes succeeded the Cardona tackle. It would have been a good performance for both if not for the slip of attitude. One thing is clear, though; the mentality is there, and it sure is entertaining to watch. […]”

The end of the season was fast approaching, and while you had become a thorn in her side, it came to a point in which she would not think about you until a week before a clash. This one in particular was crucial in the race for a Champions League spot that both Manchester clubs were vying for. She knew what it meant for the club to secure a UCL spot for the first time, and you were not about to ruin it for her.

Tooney and Millie invited her out for dinner the night before the derby, but she turned them down, opting for a quiet night in instead. After a few hours, however, she suddenly felt antsy, the anticipation before the game nipping at her. It was only 7pm when she checked and she decided to go for a run. She followed the familiar path she always takes to the nearby park, and she was glad she did because the sun was going down, leaving a glorious trail of orange in the sky. She loved these peaceful moments, away from adrenaline, away from the constant pressure, away from constantly having to push herself or she’d be called ‘lazy’.

A constant huffing sound appeared next to her, and when Ona looked down she saw an adorable corgi looking up at her while wagging its tail.

“Hello,” she bent down and pet the dog. Loving the attention, the little corgi jumped up in an attempt to lick her face, to which she let out a laugh.

“Bratwurst! Come back here!” She heard a voice call in the distance, which she assumed must have been the owner. “Sorry, he loves people.”

Ona looked up, and her face dropped. You did the same, standing frozen in front of her. Bratwurst was jumping up and down before you, probably excited that he received pets from someone else today.

She had never seen you in plain clothes before. You clearly knew how to dress yourself, because she might have admitted that you looked good if she didn’t hate you so much. But it was difficult to see you as anything else other than Y/N Y/L/N, Manchester City winger, and potentially Golden Boot winner this season by the looks of it.

And yet, she sat down on a nearby bench with you anyway, watching Bratwurst stick his butt in the air, attempting to catch a squirrel.

“I named him Bratwurst ‘cause he’s . . . long, you know?” You chuckled. ”Short form is Brat too, that’s kinda funny.”

In a sea of northern Englishmen, she never got to hear your American accent properly as she’d only heard you speak no more than two words to her, and most of the time they weren’t pleasant.

“How do you have time to own a dog?” She asked.

“He’s a foster. I just got him a couple of weeks ago.” You looked down at your fingers. “It’s nice to have him to come home to.”

The conversation died down, and suddenly Ona felt like this was a mistake. Maybe she should just leave, and continue her run. But she saw a different side to you—a gentler, quieter side unlike the boastful player she knew you as—and she wasn’t sure whether it was a good thing or not.

“Are you planning on adopting him permanently?”

“Maybe. I just want to make sure that I’m settled before making him move.”

You leaned back, placed your arm on the bench, and closed your eyes.

“You don’t want to stay in Manchester?”

“I don’t know yet. Why, would you be happy if I did?” You smirked, and she saw a glimpse of that player again.

Yes. “Your presence doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t bring me any joy either.”

“Just face it, Batlle.” You turned your body to her. “I get under your skin, don’t I?”

Ona blinked, her jaw clenching. “You don’t intimidate me, Y/L/N. You might be used to people bowing at your feet, but I won’t let you walk all over me. We will win tomorrow, and you might think to show some respect for others in the game.”

“Sorry, Batlle, can’t let you win. We’re playing Champions League next season.” You really enjoyed taunting her.

Ona huffed and stood up. As she walked away, she heard you call out to her. “See you on the pitch tomorrow, la matadora!”

There was nothing you could ever do to make yourself less hateful in her eyes.

It was matchday, kick-off time. Ona saw you on the other side of the midfield line. “Remember what you came here to do, and finish the job,” Marc had told them in the dressing room. He was right. She had a job to do, and she wasn’t about to let you ruin that for her.

They were to play with a high line today, which required Ona to stay near the midfield line and run back, should a forward slip through. About halfway through the first half, she had a startling realization; you were dropping back too, playing a number-10 role. It meant that she couldn’t do what she did last time you met, because there would be a gaping hole where she covers.

United was leading 1-0 by halftime, and while they had the advantage, the fight was far from over.

“Okay, ladies. Have a drink and take a seat,” Marc stood at the front of the dressing room. “We’re doing good, we’re holding them off. Keep up the pressure.”

Ona sat back to catch her breath. You were much more versatile than she thought, and maybe that was her mistake for underestimating you. It seemed too easy that you were giving her exactly what she wanted, playing high at the flank like she always does. There was more to it, but she needed to adapt.

Ona held your gaze for a moment across the field. You weren’t giving up. It seemed you were confident enough in whatever wicked plan you still had up your sleeve, that you sent her a smirk back.

It was the 70th minute of the game and they were so close to achieving it. Katie was looking for a pass, so Ona made herself available.

There was empty space near the side of the box, and she wanted to utilize it but it meant having to get past a couple of defenders.

“Vilde! 1, 2!” She called, passed the ball to her teammate, and started running. Her momentum was halted when Vilde’s ball was cut off and instantly launched forward.

The counterattack came so quickly, it must have been what you practiced. 1-1.

Suddenly, the tides have shifted. The momentum was with City. Time was running out, and the sudden goal disoriented her team. It took about five minutes for everyone to get their head back into the game, but Ona could tell City were used to having possession by then.

And then, in the 88th minute, you were given the ball from the left. Everyone except Alessia had dropped back to defend a series of dangerous balls up until now. You didn’t have anyone to pass to without getting intercepted, and you were outside of the box. So you took the shot. She watched helplessly as the ball flew past Mary into the top right corner.

1-2.

Ona’s body ran cold as she watched you celebrate with your teammates.

When the final whistle came shortly after, she collapsed on her knees.

Some of her teammates were there to console her, but she let their comfort pass through her. She needed to break something.

She needed to get away from everyone and found a spot near the bathrooms where she could catch her breath. Her boots were dangling from her hand by the laces. She slumped against a wall and began to cry, the boots clattering next to her on the floor.

It wasn’t that she was sad to have lost—she blamed herself for letting you get to her head. The interaction of the day before got her thinking what ifs. What if we didn’t meet under these circumstances? What if I could have just gotten to know you without wanting to rip your head off every time I see you?

You heard quiet sobs down the hallway and knew it was her. You had quickly gone into the tunnel when you didn’t see her anywhere on the pitch, but you certainly weren’t expecting to see her cry.

“Batlle?” You called.

She didn’t seem to notice you, sitting against the wall and wiping her face with her shirt.

“Hey, it’s okay.” That was a stupid thing to say considering you just beat her out of a Champions League spot, of course it’s not okay.

“I’m really not in the mood,” she said, looking away.

“You did good out there,” you said, watching her anxiously.

“Don’t act like you care,” she sniffled. “You got what you wanted.”

“I’m not as heartless as you think, Ona.” You quipped back. “I’m not sorry that we won, but I am sorry that you’re hurt.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” She sobbed and glared at you. It sent a chill down your bones. “I wish we had never met.”

How do you tell her that you never meant for things to go this way? That every word you had ever said to her didn’t stem from malice but from fear? You had wished to push her away so that you don’t collide with her head-on. How do you tell her that no matter how hard you tried, you still gravitated toward her?

“I’m sorry.” You repeated, like a fool.

She was hurting because of you.

You snuck a glance at the form of the girl in front of you, like you would be penalized if you were caught looking at her. You took a step back to go, but she held onto your arm and pulled your body against her.

You had been fantasizing about having your mouth against her for months, usually in absurd circumstances, like you two making out in a bed of roses or you giving her a kiss after she, a masked superhero, saved you from danger. Never like this, muscles aching, sweat coating your foreheads, wearing your respective uniforms—being so you doing this.

You wanted to enjoy it. Her lips were soft and salty, and she might have secured you by the waist against her. Your knees trembled as you sighed into her lips, pushing her against the wall gently. Your hesitancy soon turned into hunger, as you pressed your body into hers, desperate to feel her.

Murmurs in the distance snapped you out of it. “Where’s Ona?” You made out one of the voices saying.

You looked back at her, your faces just inches away. You never noticed, but she had so many beautiful freckles adorning her face.

“Ona—“ You said, but she quickly picked up her boots and left towards the voices.

Chest heaving and head spinning, you slumped against the wall with a small grin, bringing your fingers up to touch your lips where she had been.

“Where have you been?” Keira asked in the dressing room, but you just shook your head.

“Just to the bathroom.”

Sky Sports: Man City’s Talisman Y/N Y/L/N Nets Stunning Late Goal Against Man United To Secure UWCL Spot […]

a/n: this gif is so y/n and ona coded

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: 5 unresolved items from season 6

There were several things in season 6 that were left unresolved including some that happened between Buck and Eddie.  These are items they never discussed and IMO, it’s possible they might resurface in season 7 and present the small amount of angst that’s been mentioned by OS and RG during their recent interviews.

Full Disclosure:  When season 6 ended, I like many other viewers, absolutely LOATHED the way Buck’s and Eddie’s endings were handled since they were both shoehorned into relationships with one-dimensional love interests the same way they had been at the end of season 4.  The constant delays of Buddie going CANON was just 🙄 and at the time, I took a step back because it felt like all the metaphors, callbacks, foreshadowing and hindsight that happened during the first 13 episodes were replaced with a forced narrative.  Characters were retconned too so they could fit into some “metaphorical FOX procedural drama box” and it frustrated me.  After 6x18 aired, I took a couple of weeks to formulate my overall thoughts on the season and I completed 15 Constructive Criticisms posts to move past my frustrations. Additionally, I started writing a massive multi-chapter fanfic to unravel the mess that was season 6 and I must admit, doing so helped because I was able to put some of the messy pieces to that unfinished puzzle of a season together.

Now... back to the regularly scheduled programming…

This post highlights the 5 things IMO that are still in play that didn’t get resolved last season and I’ve included details about them below.  Since season 7 is shortened and only has 10 episodes, it’s possible none of the things listed will be revisited but it’s also possible they will. 

Before I get started, here’s a quick reminder, Buck and Eddie didn’t discuss any of the things listed in CANON.

1. The Donation

Other than 6x7 when Eddie heard about Buck’s sperm donation for the first time at the firehouse, in 6x9 when they were on the four-way call when he responded to Chimney and said, “I don’t know… it kind of feels weird to congratulate him” and in 6x10 when he replied to Buck and said, “Sounds like your family had your back on the whole donation thing. That’s definitely progress” (notice he NEVER said he had Buck’s back on it and also his facial expressions in 6x9 after Buck’s announcement showed he wasn’t too thrilled about it) Buck and Eddie never discussed it.  Therefore, it is possible there could be some angst coming from it when the Buckley family’s other “deep dark family secret” (related post linked here) is revealed during or after Madney’s wedding.

Furthermore, Maddie’s NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT BUCK’S SPERM DONATION in CANON and every time it was mentioned in 6x10, it happened right after she left the room to check on Jee-Yun.  It’s obvious she knows about it since Chimney spoke up and said something to rebut Sang’s comment regarding a man raising another man’s child.  Another point to make about the whole “Meet the Parents” saga in 6x10 is the audience never saw Maddie converse with Sang and based on BTS information for season 7, it appears Sang, Albert nor Albert’s mom will be in attendance at the wedding. 👀

[FTR, I still don’t believe Connor and Kameron’s baby is biologically Buck's and I will stand on this hill, even if I have to stand alone, until there’s a blood test proving he is related to the baby (post linked here).]

2. The Onesie

At the end of 6x9, Buck was asleep and he left the LAFD onesie he purchased sitting on top of his nightstand and it was right after the “Santa Ana Winds” ended.  However, there are two important things that should be remembered.

First, it has an LAFD logo on it which means it’s important to Buck because as he told Maddie in 2x18, "Being a firefighter is MY LIFE!  It’s the only thing I’ve ever done that was important and that mattered, ok?"

Why is this important? 

It’s important because BUCK IDENTIFIES HIMSELF AS A FIREFIGHTER and after all these years he still hasn’t figured out firefighting is what he does. Eddie knows Buck’s more than a firefighter especially since he knows and loves him to his CORE!  Also, if Buck believed the biological relation wasn't important, then he could have just bought a regular onesie from Target or Wal-Mart, right?  Yes!

Second, in 6x17, Kameron stayed with Buck for several days which means if he wanted to, he could have given it to her as a gift but he didn’t.  Therefore, it’s possible it might come back into play after 7x5 when Connor and Kameron are supposed to show up again (OS mentioned Buck being a sperm donor for his friends won’t resurface until after the first five episodes).  Additionally, after 6A, the narrative could have changed since the onesie wasn’t seen again and that could be due to all the audience backlash that happened after it was over.

Viewers didn’t like the jokes about Buck’s "swimmers" or the lack of his "alone time" and all the other ways the storyline was fumbled. By the start of 6B, the show tried to make the audience believe Buck understood he was the "donor not the dad" 👀. 

If the actual onesie doesn’t make a reappearance, then I believe the ramifications associated with the way Buck identifies himself will and it could be a point of contention between him and Eddie since Eddie was the one who told him in 4x14, “You act like you’re expendable... but you’re wrong”.

3. Buck’s Death

At the end of 6x18, it appeared as if Buck still hadn’t dealt with the fact that he DIED and it’s possible nobody else has either, especially Eddie, Maddie, Bobby and their found family. Reminder, Maddie and Bobby both said, “Buck, you died!” and when they said it, Buck became frustrated.

However, when Eddie said, “You died Buck!”, he stopped and listened but the way Eddie said it was different for A LOT OF REASONS (post linked here).  After Eddie asked if he was allowed to ask how he was, Buck replied, “Honestly Eddie… I don’t know” but they have yet to have a full CANON conversation about the effects of it the same way they haven’t discussed any of their other shared traumas.

Additionally, during that conversation, they briefly discussed the shooting but they didn't fully talk about it other than Buck asking Eddie what he remembered. It’s another important and shared traumatic event that’s happened between them but like the well, the hostage situation and Eddie's breakdown, they still have yet to discuss it. Buck seemed to be a little upset by the fact that Eddie “said” he didn’t remember anything other than the searing pain he felt in his shoulder (I believe he remembers more than he said he does).

Buck's response was, “Is that it?” as if to say, “You don’t remember me crawling underneath a firetruck, pulling you out, picking you up and putting you inside of the truck? You don't remember me holding a gauze to your wound and asking you to stay with me? You don't remember asking me if I was hurt? Because I WAS!”  Also, it was kind of like Buck’s heart broke because Eddie “said” he doesn’t "really" remember it while Buck can’t forget the way his heart fell out of his chest that day when he saw the love of his life bleeding out in the middle of the street.

Also, Eddie’s still waiting for Buck to talk about the fact that he died. Reminder, Eddie's heart fell out of his chest too and he yelled at the hospital staff and told them to "Do More!" Even though they briefly discussed it while they were in the cemetery in 6x15, BUCK STILL HASN’T DEALT WITH IT YET!  If he would have gone to therapy instead of whatever he was doing with the DeAtH dOuLa, then maybe he would have dealt with it by now.

4. Buck’s Couch

Full Disclosure:  Like so many viewers, I was pissed at the end of the season when Buck asked N to help him pick out a new couch because it didn’t make any sense and the truth is IT STILL DOESN’T but hindsight is 20/20 and I do believe the couch was still there for a reason.  IMO, it has everything to do with what could happen between Buck and Eddie in season 7.

Please note, these are my observations and interpretations about what I believe the destruction of Buck’s couch represented.

After Margaret bought Buck a new couch at the end of 6x11, beginning in 6x12, the show spent a lot of time showing how uncomfortable it was for Buck whenever he tried to rest on it.  Also, they AVOIDED showing it in a lot of other scenes even though Buck’s previous couch (the black leather one), when he still had it, could always be seen in the frame (post linked here).  However, the orange couch wasn’t fully seen until 6x18 before Kameron gave birth on it.

IMO, her giving birth on the couch Buck's mother purchased represented a lot of things including Buck’s idea of the life he always believed he was supposed to have.  Reminder, he gave his sperm (I don’t think the baby is his but let’s roll with this idea for a moment) to Connor (a former roommate) so him and his wife could have a baby even though Connor and Buck hadn’t seen each other in years.

He met him while they were in Peru and the only reason Buck ended up in L.A. was because Connor suggested he move with him and his friends because they were “kind of like a family”.  Also, he said Buck has a good heart and that was the reason why he wanted him to be their donor but reminder, the reasons why he said he chose him aren’t hereditary.

It appears the way Connor presented himself in 6x4, with a wife and in search of that "missing" piece (a baby) is exactly what Buck’s always wanted and that’s what his couch represented.  Let's be real, Connor manipulated Buck and they aren’t friends because if they were, wouldn’t he have invited Buck to the wedding or kept in contact with him over those three years? It kind of seemed like he wanted to rub his nose in the fact that he finally settled down while Buck was still living the bachelor life (not really because he already has his own family with Eddie and Chris, he just hasn't realized it yet).

The issue with Buck’s couches was he’s wanted his own family for years but the way his life has been presented, it appears he believes no one wants to build a life or a family with him and that's why he gave away a piece of himself. In doing so, he was trying to fix the issues he may have seen in Connor's and Kameron's marriage since it was barely hanging on by a thread.  Reminder, Connor let his pregnant wife leave and he didn’t try to reconcile with her.  Also, Buck never said why he didn’t want to turn them down when he was talking to Hen even though he should have.

I believe the destruction of Buck’s couch with the birth of the baby on it was about more than the couch itself.  It was destroyed and unsalvageable because THE DREAM OR IDEA Buck’s always believed he was supposed to have got destroyed when he gave his sperm away.  Also, the couch was his MOTHER’S idea of the life she wants him to have instead of the life he wants to have for himself, hence the reason why he told her he would get a couch when he was ready but she ignored him and bought him one anyway.

His "destroyed couch" illustrated the image Buck’s had in his mind of the life and the family he thought he was supposed to want for years, (i.e., a wife and a child) is no longer applicable because his family will include a husband, EDDIE and their son, CHRIS.

Reminder, there was a lot of talk about the types of family in 6B and they all related to Buck's idea of a family.  In 6x10, Buck told Bobby and Eddie, “It kind of felt like we were an actual family” but then Eddie replied, “You are an actual family”.  Also, in 6x13 when they went to play poker, Eddie responded to Buck while they were walking through the kitchen and said, “It’s a different kind of family” and later in the same episode, Chimney said to Maddie, Athena and Bobby, “Every family is different” but they were talking about Buck because Maddie said she would be furious with Buck if he did what Rhonda Fitzsimmons did when she used her nephew to gain access to Maddie's and Chimney's home.

5. Eddie’s Couch

Eddie’s blue couch has always been Buck’s couch too and if it wasn’t going to be Buck's anymore, then something would have happened to it or Eddie would have bought a new one like he did at the end of season 2.  But Eddie didn’t and only Buck’s couch got DESTROYED at the end of season 6👀.

Reminder, in 6x9 Eddie was shown sleeping on it, in 6x12 Buck was shown sleeping on it and Chris was shown sleeping on it in 6x15.

Eddie didn’t get the blue couch until season 3 and the couch he had in season 2 was gray (post linked here).  It’s evident Buck still hasn’t figured out Eddie’s couch is also his even though he does know he’s not a guest there.

Therefore, Eddie’s couch and everything it represents for Buck, i.e., a romantic relationship, family and fatherhood will be in play until Buck realizes it or until Eddie explains it to him.

Will the small amount of angst Buck and Eddie experience in season 7 revolve around these 5 unresolved items or others? Only the showrunner, writers and producers know the answer to that question.

[morganbritton132]

Ahh I love your emtts I catch up on every day like it's my evening newspaper 😂 Speaking of I just saw the response where you mentioned Robin and Steve saying hi to their FBI agents and that's hilarious

Like the idea that Robin and Steve are so used to being bugged that they say hi to the FBI, Steve is vehemently against Alexa, doesnt have much of a social media presence (aside from Facebook) and is still futile trying to stop Eddie from breaking his NDA because Eddie may only have one Steve signed FOUR is so funny in the context of this au where Eddie just tells tiktok Steve has mommy issues 😂 The contrast is just so funny to me

But anyway. I absolutely love your au and all the details you've put into it and I hope you don't feel too much pressure when you get responses like this. Hope you have a good day

No pressure felt at all! I absolutely love being sent stuff like this. I think it’s so cool that people pick up on little world building things and expand on them because those are my favorite things to write. I’ve always found something really fascinating about grounding a character into a realism that’s just kinda mundane. I think it’s neat and I think it’s cool that other people see it and seem to like it.

It's like the saga has it’s own fandom and I love it.

After Starcourt, Steve and Robin started signing off their phone calls with “Bye Steve/Bye Robin/Bye FBI agent bugging my phone” because sometimes there was this weird staticky sound on the line when they talked.

And sure, maybe it was because the mall fire caused significant damage to the power grin and everything was flickering and staticky that summer. Maybe it was Steve’s second concussion of the year still ringing around his head. It’s funnier to imagine that it’s an FBI agent sitting in some hot sweaty van listening to them talk about girls and minimum wage jobs.

“Holy shit,” Steve said one night, cutting Robin off in their ever-depressing job search. “We’ve talked about girls.”

“Uh, yeah? Did you forget?”

“That means that you came out to me and the FBI, Buckley.”

Steve actually told Robin that the FBI monitors them for a bit after every Upside Down event. They patch you up and give you an NDA, and then they watch you for a while to see if you’re a traitor to your country. That’s just common sense.

Dustin overheard him and said that this was real life and not a bad spy movie. Steve was just being paranoid.

Steve’s just like, “Oh yeah, if I’m so paranoid then why was there a weird van in the school parking lot when I l picked you up from your nerd club? That’s classic FBI.”

“You mean Eddie Munson’s van???”

Eddie signed the NDA but he’s never taken it seriously.

The first thing he did after he left the hospital was write a song about Vecna. He still preforms that song to this day. The artwork for their first album cover was a drawing of a demo-bat. That album sold over two million records.

Eddie’s never had a secret that he hasn’t told. Sometimes Eddie starts talking and he doesn’t know what’s going to come out and other times, he outs his husband’s mommy issues to his audience of six million.

Eddie will start a live stream like, “Ask me anything, I’m an open book.”

Steve’s just like, “Babe.”

“Sorry, Steve said I’m not allowed to be an open book.”

 

(Side note: It is very important to me that the only social media that Steve has is Facebook because (1) it’s a mom’s social media and (2) it’s unsecure as fuck. Not only is Facebook spying on you but it’s selling information. I just think it’s so funny that Steve won’t get an Alexa but he’ll give all his pictures and location to Mark Zuckerberg.)

[mint-yooxgi]

{10} - Hotel California - Yandere!Demonic Entities!Ateez X Reader

Yandere AU & Demon AU - Based off of This ask and Hotel California by Eagles

Genre: Mature, Horror, Angst, Fluff, Slight Humor

Pairing: Ateez X Reader

Words: 18,092

Warnings: Whore Knee Thots, discussion of violence, minor bipohobia (not done by any of the guys), I think that’s all. This is a Yandere story, it will contain themes such as stalking, violence, obsession, possessive natures, and just general overall creepiness and swearing. You have been warned.

A/n: Here we go!! I seriously contemplated splitting this part into two again, but finally, the mall saga is complete!! Yay!! I’m so excited to start writing the next chapter and a specific scene in particular, so I hope you all look forward to it, too. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. Enjoy~

Main Story - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven - Part Eight - Part Nine - Mini Masterlist

Twenty minutes later, and you find yourself in the foodcourt sitting around a table with the eight of them, cups of bubble tea in front of each of you. Again, you had a little pushback when you went to pay for your drinks, but with one stern look from you, they backed off. For now.

You take a sip of your drink, placing it onto the table in front of you as you observe all of them sitting before you. From left to right, you have Jongho, Wooyoung, Yunho, and then Seonghwa and Hongjoong almost both directly across from you, followed by Mingi, Yeosang, and then San to your right.

“I want to know more about you.” Your voice cuts through the small silence that has settled around the nine of you as you sit at the table.

They all cannot help the way that they smile once more in response, the giddiness bubbling in their chests at the thought of finally being able to open up to you, as you have slowly been opening up to them.

“What would you like to know?” Seonghwa meets your gaze, eyes shining as he takes a sip of his own drink.

“Fair warning, some of my questions might be really dumb,” you say, shifting slightly in your seat so that you’re more comfortable.

“My Love, you could never ask us dumb questions.” Hongjoong assures you.

“We’re just grateful that you want to know more about us.” Yunho grins, his hand resting around his drink on top of the table.

“Not to mention unbelievably happy,” San adds, heart warming at the mere thought of the conversation happening right now.

A moment passes in silence where you simply smile at them. Until Wooyoung speaks once more.

“Ask away.” He grins, taking a content sip of his drink as he looks to you with wide eyes.

“Okay,” you nod. “Let’s get some basics out of the way first. How old are all of you?”

Jongho blinks, “I honestly haven’t thought about that in years.”

At the way your brow furrows, Mingi is quick to add, “when you get to be our age, everything tends to blend together.”

“Which is?” You tilt your head forward expectantly.

“We’re all over a few millennia old.” Yeosang tells you, swirling his drink in his hand.

“Okay,” you nod slowly, skeptically. “And I was the first thing in years to peek all of your interests?”

At the way you see them all begin to respond, you raise a hand.

“Don’t answer that one, it was rhetorical.” You place your hand back onto the table before you. “Do you at least remember your birthdays? Or creation days? How does that work?”

“Yes, we were born,” Yunho tells you.

“We remember our birthdays, too.” Mingi adds with a grin.

“Which are?” You look at them expectantly.

It takes them no time at all to tell you, listing them off in age order from eldest to youngest. It takes you only a minute longer to be putting that information in your phone. A fact in which has all of their hearts warming in their chests.

“So, if you were born, that means you can get me pregnant.”

Your statement nearly causes Wooyoung to spit out his drink, coughing in the next second as Yunho comfortingly rubs his back.

“I’m not saying that that’s what’s going to happen any time soon, but I need to know. Just in case.” You reply, eyes briefly glancing at each one of them.

Little do you know of how your words affect them all. However, none are as affected as the eldest is right now, eyes nearly shifting as that all too familiar blackness swirls within. The mental image alone of you, belly swollen and growing his baby inside of you has him shifting in his seat. Not to mention the idea of completely claiming you in such a way, filling you to the brim with his seed so that you can’t help but to get pregnant from him.

Still, the thought of you being open to the possibility of having sex with all of them at some point in the future means more to them than you’ll ever know. It means you’re becoming more and more accepting of this relationship, and more trusting of them every day.

“It’s possible, yes,” Hongjoong replies with a somewhat stiff nod of his head.

“You would have to ingest a specific herbal remedy in order for it to even have the possibility of taking,” Mingi replies. “And you’d have to be on it for a while before it could even work.”

“Built in birth control,” you nod, seemingly impressed. “Not bad. Though, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop taking mine.”

“Do you-“ San’s voice catches in his throat, clearing it in the next moment, “do you want kids?”

“No.” You shake your head. “I have no desire to have them at this point in time. I hope that’s not an issue for any of you.”

The way you look at them, with narrowed eyes almost daring them to challenge your wishes, has them straightening in their spots.

“Of course not,” Mingi shakes his head almost immediately in the next second.

“We want what you want, Dearest.” Yeosang sends you a soft, reassuring smile.

“Good,” you seemingly relax for the moment.

“It is your body, My Love,” Hongjoong meets your gaze from across the table. “Whether you choose to allow us to indulge in you will always be your choice.”

“I appreciate that.” You let out a soft exhale through your nose. “I want you all to know that if and when the time comes where we are…” you search for the right word, “intimate in that way, the sentiment is shared. I will never expect or force you all into anything you are uncomfortable with. That’s not who I am.”

They all smile, touched by the amount of consideration you already seem to have for them.

“We appreciate that, Dearest,” Yeosang meets your gaze.

“Like I said before,” a heat rises once more to your face as you avert your gaze briefly. “If it’s not mutual, I don’t want it.”

“We feel the exact same.” Jongho’s lips pull upwards softly.

“Good,” you nod. “Okay, next question, cause I am extremely curious after today. Just how powerful are you guys?”

“Well, we’re not Kings of the Realm for nothing,” Seonghwa smirks, leaning back in his seat as he feels your gaze roam over the front of his body. He nearly hums from that fact alone.

“You already know about out mental capabilities.” Wooyoung voices, swirling his straw around his drink.

“Something tells me that there’s more to it than what you’re letting on.” You narrow your eyes at him, shifting your gaze towards Yunho in the next moment. “Especially after what you told me today.”

“If you’re worried if we ever used those sort of mental manipulations against you, we haven’t.” Hongjoong shakes his head slightly as if to emphasize his point.

“I know,” your words shock them, sure you would have had at least some sort of mistrust of them for this particular aspect of their powers.

“How can you be so sure?” Yeosang voices all of their thoughts.

“You wouldn’t allow me to remember certain aspects about the beginning of this whole fiasco if you did.” You reply. “At least, I’m assuming you wouldn’t. The fact that I still have those negative memories from the start, and the fact that we’re sitting here right now talking about it, assures me that you haven’t.”

“You would be correct.” San responds, taking another sip of his drink.

“I need to know, though,” you stare intently at your hand on top of the table before looking up at all of them once more. “Have you thought about it before? Using that specific part of your powers to progress our relationship along in your favour?”

A brief moment of silence settles over all of you, and you find yourself going still. You don’t even need to hear an answer at this point to know what it already is.

“We won’t lie to you,” Seonghwa looks away, shame washing over his features as your gaze becomes locked on him from across the table. “It’s crossed our minds. Even before you came to us, we talked about it. What it would be like to simply give you false memories with all of us so we didn’t have to start immediately from scratch.”

“But you didn’t.” You remark.

“We would never forgive ourselves if we did.” Yunho says, sincerity shining in his eyes as he meets yours for a brief moment before he’s averting his gaze back down to the table.

“We could never hurt you in that way.” Jongho adds, swallowing thickly.

“It wouldn’t, and would never be real if we did something like that.” Wooyoung says, hands shaking as he pulls them into his lap, nervously playing with his fingers. “It would be you, but it wouldn’t at the same time.”

“You want me to want you in the same ways you all want me.” You briefly glance between all of them. “But you want me to do so on my own terms. Not on terms you have instilled within my mind.”

“Yes-” Hongjoong’s breath hitches in his throat, voice raw with his emotions, “more than anything.”

You take moment to observe them all, noticing how they all continue to look down at their hands for the moment. You don’t need to be able to read their minds to know how ashamed of themselves they are for even thinking about essentially brainwashing you to love them. You blink, taking a deep breath in.

“Thank you for your honesty.” You begin, attempting to take what you hope appears to be a calm sip of your drink.

“You’re not mad at us?” Mingi spares a small glance at you out of the corner of his eyes, voice small. 

You take a moment to consider his words before you’re shaking your head, pursing your lips slightly in the next moment, “no.”

“You’re not disgusted?” There are tears lining Wooyoung’s eyes, as he continues to avoid your gaze, and he hopes beyond everything that they do not begin to fall.

“Why would I be disgusted?” You frown, genuinely confused by his words.

“We thought you would be repulsed by us once you knew.” Hongjoong admits, voice soft as he clings onto his drink for dear life.

“Yes, it’s a little unnerving to know that in the blink of an eye, you could essentially tear my mind apart, or alter my memories in your favour, or even make me believe in things that might not necessarily be true.” You reply, picking at the label on the side of your drink to distract yourself for the time being. You do not fail to notice how all of them seem to flinch at your words. “However,” the moment you say that one phrase, they’re all looking towards you with a small gleam of hope shining behind their eyes, “I don’t think you’re giving yourselves enough credit as to what it means to me that you didn’t. Yes, you could do these things, but you haven’t done them to me.”

“Not to you.” Immediately, Hongjoong is shaking his head. “Never to you.”

“Exactly.” You smile softly at him reassuringly. “That simple fact means more to me than any of you will ever know. You chose to let me keep my autonomy. You chose to let me keep my own mind. Sure, it was a bit of a rocky start, but you chose to let me fall for all of you in my own way instead of forcing things between us.” You take the time to meet each and every one of their gazes as you let out a small breath, hand tightening around your drink for support. “And it’s working.”

The tears that Wooyoung had been so desperately trying to hold back begin to fall freely down his face. Pure and utter joy ripples like shockwaves through each of their bodies, and you can see the way tears spring to Mingi’s eyes as well. Even San cannot help the but let the small droplets fall as he reaches his hand over to yours once more that day to begin clinging onto you for dear life.

Slowly, he brings the back of your hand to his lips once more, holding you against him like you’ll disappear as soon as he lets go.

“Thank you.” He nearly chokes on a sob, overcome by his emotions and the significance of this moment here in time with you. Just as he knows that his brothers are as well.

You give his hand a small squeeze as he gently places yours back onto the table, eight pairs of eyes watching you closely.

It’s subtle, but you can feel them all reach out to you with their minds, brushing against your void tenderly as they continue to gaze lovingly at you. You can see the emotions clear in their eyes, even as Wooyoung begins wiping at his own with the back of his hands. 

So, you do what you feel is best in the current situation. You let them all in.

The way they all straighten in their seats is instantaneous, synonymous with the way they all inhale sharply. They can feel every single one of you emotions now pouring freely over them. For the moment, you are comfortable, content, and curious. There’s even a little bit of concern for them washing over your being despite the uncertainty you hold surrounding your future together. However, there’s another emotion there, much softer than the rest, that has their hearts swelling in their chests. For there, beneath all of your other emotions, they can sense a hint of fondness that had never been there before. A fondness that seems to be directed towards them.

Your gaze is soft as you glance around the table once more. “I will do my best to be more open with all of you going forward. I simply ask that you all do the same.”

“Of course, Petal,” Yunho’s reply is soft, voice barely above a whisper as he gazes at you fondly.

“I’m still going to keep my void, though,” you say, a teasing lilt to your voice. “I do like my privacy.”

Then, with a wink, you’re closing your mind off to them once more.

“As long as you’re comfortable,” Seonghwa breathes out with a small nod, bringing his drink up to his lips once more.

“Speaking of that,” you begin, “something tells me that if you wanted to, you’d each have no trouble breaking through to my mind.”

“We more than likely could,” Hongjoong nods. “If we wanted to.”

“But we swore that we would never hurt you.” Mingi reminds you yet again.

“Doing such a thing could potentially shatter your mind,” Yunho tells you. “Especially if you’re not used to it.”

You blink, momentarily caught off guard by that admission.

“What about other demons?” You ask, taking another sip of your own drink.

“What about them?” Wooyoung’s voice is a little rough from his previous emotions, but he clears his throat in the next second, swallowing thickly.

“Is there a possibility that they would try and get into my mind?” You inquire.

“If they tried, they’d be dead on the spot.” San nearly growls at the mere idea of someone attempting to hurt you.

“I get the constantly wanting to protect me,” you give his hand another squeeze seeing as he’s yet to let yours go. “I’m just trying to cover all angles here, considering how you all probably came back drenched in your enemies blood last night. It’s the easiest way to hurt you, I’m guessing. If they go for me.”

“We would never let that happen.” Seonghwa leans forward in his seat, a snarl tugging at his features of the mere thought of someone coming after you.

“I understand that,” you nod, “which is one of the reasons I feel safe with you all. I know you would never do anything to me, let alone allow anything to happen to me.”

“If you are worried about something like that happening, there are added ways of which we could use to protect you.” Hongjoong adds, sending a pointed look at the eldest male beside him.

“While keeping my void intact?” You quirk a brow.

“While keeping your void intact.” He turns back towards you, nodding once.

“Elaborate.” You look at him expectantly, dropping San’s hand for the moment as you pull your own back in front of your body.

“It would be similar to what you did with Seonghwa and I in that jewellery store today.” Hongjoong begins, and immediately six pairs of eyes are on both him and the eldest beside him.

“What did she do in that jewellery store today?” San asks, rather pointedly.

“She brushed her mind against ours.” Seonghwa states, quite proudly as a grin tugs onto his lips.

“You did?” Immediately, Yunho is looking at you with wide eyes, amazement clear on his features. When you nod, he’s grinning proudly, right along with Seonghwa. “That’s my girl.”

You avert your gaze, somewhat shyly, as a soft smile takes over your features. A fact which makes Yunho’s chest rumble in happiness at the effect he’s just had on you.

“I just figured that you guys constantly monitor my thoughts, even with my void up, so I tried something, and it ended up working.” You brush their praise off for the moment.

“Give yourself more credit, Dearest,” Yeosang looks up from his drink for a moment. “It takes some demons years to figure that one out.”

Fuck, could you get anymore perfect?

This time, you cannot prevent the way your cheeks heat from his words, Yeosang nearly letting out a pleased growl of his own at seeing you so bashful because of him.

“I was just trying to calm them down.” You mumble.

“To be fair, David was all over you when you went in there.” Seonghwa says, seemingly nonchalantly as he pushes the ice in his drink around with his straw.

“David,” you tilt your head forward at him in disbelief, quirking a brow all the while, “one of my closest friends.”

“He looked like he was being overtly friendly from where we were standing.” Mingi grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans back in his chair.

You can’t help it, your jaw drops in shock, a laugh escaping you in the next moment as your hand comes up to cover the lower half of your face.

“What’s so funny?” Wooyoung grumbles, his arms also crossed over his chest.

“Considering you’re the ones that can read minds, I didn’t think I had to spell this one out for you. Or did you all fail to notice how he was subtly checking Hwa out the whole time?” You chuckle once more. “David’s gay. Not to mention the fact that he’s married.”

That immediately shuts them all up, some even having the gall to look sheepish for the moment. Even Seonghwa cannot hide his surprise, though the joy of hearing you call him Hwa, even if you may not have intended for it to mean much, begins to flood his veins. The fact that you noticed someone else checking him out means that you were paying attention to him, too.

“Then why was he checking me out?” The eldest quirks a brow, secretly hoping to get you to compliment him without realizing what you’re doing, much to the other’s discontent.

“Well, in David’s own wise words,” you begin, a knowing look stretching across your features as you repeat what you’ve so ofter heard him tell you, “I can look at the menu, honey, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be ordering anything.”

The way you chuckle fondly has the eldest grumbling in his seat, crossing his arms as he leans back. That is most certainly not what he wanted to hear, especially from you. He knew it was too wishful to be thinking that you would get even the slightest bit jealous over someone else checking him out in front of you. There goes his hopes of hearing you call him handsome again, or sexy. Or even better yet, yours.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you’re not more grumpy about Suzy,” you giggle, and each man swears it’s the most melodic sound they’ve ever heard. “She’s had a crush on me for as long as I can remember knowing her, and she’s not subtle about it, either.”

“I think there were a few more important things on our minds than that when we were in there, if I’m being honest.” Hongjoong’s brows raise as he takes a deep breath in, taking a sip of his drink in the next moment as the tips of his ears begin to turn red, thinking back onto those wondrous few minutes in that jewellery store.

“Knife kink, huh?” Wooyoung wiggles his brows at you suggestively.

Embarrassment floods your veins, shooting him a sharp look as your gaze pierces him, freezing him to his very spot and preventing him from looking away from your intense stare.

“What’s it to you, demon boy?” You quirk a brow, demeanour shifting in an instant as the corner of your lips tugs upwards into a smirk. “You want me to stab you, too?”

A shiver of pleasure runs down Wooyoung’s spine, echoed by the way each male stiffens around the table. Hongjoong shifts in his seat in the next second, body suddenly heating as his thoughts begin to consume him once more.

Yet again, Yeosang comes to the rescue to break the tense silence building between all of you as he takes a sip of his drink. It’s the sound of his obvious slurping with his empty cup, ice crunching together as he shifts his straw around that breaks the rising tension between all of you.

You seemingly relax into your seat.

“This is a conversation for a later time.” You take a sip of your own drink, swirling the remainder of the liquid inside with your free hand. “We’re not there yet.”

She’s not denying it. Seonghwa muses, leaning further back into his seat.

I wish we could know more about this topic, though. San pouts.

We will, Yunho hum. All in due time.

“Anyways, speaking of reading minds, how are you all not overwhelmed by everyone around us right now?” You quickly change the subject. “Are you able to block them out?”

“Yes,” Mingi nods in confirmation. “Quite easily.”

“Huh, neat.” You clearly look impressed as you nod along to his words. “How far does your telepathy, or whatever you want to call it, reach?”

“Our connection allows us to contact each other anywhere in the world at any time, even if we’re in contrasting domains.” Yeosang informs you.

“Connection?” You quirk a brow, clearly interested in this new revelation. “I know you all refer to yourselves as brothers, but something tells me that you’re not blood related.”

“You would be correct,” Hongjoong’s eyes shine as he looks at you, loving how keen your observations always are. “We’ve known each other practically our whole lives, so the bond we share is like brothers.”

“That’s really nice,” you smile softly. “That you have each other.”

“We’ve come close to killing one another a few times, though.” San’s voice is light, even if you know he’s being extremely serious right now.

“As do all siblings,” you laugh, recalling a few instances where your sister has gotten on the better half of your nerves. You’re sure if she was here, she’d say the exact same thing.

“It’s also very easy to tease one another,” Jongho grins, a knowing gleam in his eyes as he looks around the table.

“Now, that, I know,” you giggle again, and they all practically swoon. “Speaking of teasing, I’ve been curious since this morning,” each male tenses ever so slightly, already preparing for the worst, “you two,” you motion to both San beside you and Seonghwa across from you, “why the pink hair? Was it because I said I liked Sukuna?”

The way they both tense in their seats and avert their gazes slightly in answer enough, even if the eldest flat out tries to deny it in the next second.

“Mmhmm,” you hum knowingly, “sure.”

“It wasn’t!” San whines, shaking his head with a pout tugging at his lips. “But if you don’t like it, we can change the colour again.”

“Woah there, I never said I didn’t like it,” you raise a hand slightly to get him to pause, noticing how smug the two males look all of a sudden. “Only do it if it’s something you want to do. I like all of your hairstyles. You two,” you motion to Hongjoong and Wooyoung, “the change looks nice on you as well.”

“Really?” Wooyoung replies eagerly, eyes shining as he leans a little bit forwards in his seat. 

Even Hongjoong cannot suppress the shy smile that graces his features at the way you compliment him for the second time in under twenty-four hours.

“Of course,” you nod, eyes shining as you smile. “You all look nice.”

Soft hums echo around the table as each man’s chest rumbles in content. They cannot help but to feel proud for impressing you in this way, only adding onto the list of things that they’re grateful for happening with you today.

“Thank you, baby,” San grins, nudging your knee with his from beneath the table.

You softly nudge his knee back as you turn your attention to Hongjoong once more. “You still haven’t told me about the mind thing.”

“Ah, right.” To be fair, Hongjoong had a few other things on his mind, especially with the recent reminder of that specific kink you seem to have. Not to mention how you’ve just complimented his appearance, for the second day in a row. “Well, we could essentially attach our minds to yours. That way you’d just have to reach out and brush against one of our links to notify us if you were suddenly in danger, or if you felt threatened. Plus, it would give you an added layer of mental protection against anyone who dared to hurt you in such a way.”

“Which would still allow me to keep my privacy, and autonomy.” You observe, a slight impressed quirk to your lips as you nod your head. “How would it work?”

The feeling is odd, yet not unpleasant, as your void shifts in your mind. Slowly, it’s as if strings attach themselves to the edges of your lake, looking as if they are glowing behind a sort of soft mental fog. They are evenly spaced, encircling you on every side as you watch the water ripple where they’ve attached themselves to the edges of your mind. Additionally, each of these eight strings vary in colour, and somehow you immediately know whose is whose, even without the positioning of these strings in your mind echoing where each male sits around the table.

You don’t realize your eyes have closed until your lids flutter open to see them staring at you softly, each with an expectant look in their eyes.

“So, I just need to reach out to one of you through this, then. If I want or need to.” You observe casually.

“They’ve always been there,” Mingi admits, stabbing at his ice with his straw. “We’ve just now made them visible to you.”

“Since when?” Your brow quirks in pure curiosity, no malcontent in your voice.

They all share a look between them before turning to face you once more.

“Since the day you tried to jump off the balcony,” Mingi says, voice hushed as if he’s recalling the very memory right now. With the way his eyes gleam with that same hint of fear and pain, of which you saw when he caught you, you know that he is. “It was just a safety for us so that we could monitor your heavier emotions.”

“Ah,” you nod slightly in acknowledgement. “I see.”

“The mist is so that others can’t find them easily if they try and invade your mind.” Seonghwa adds, shifting the focus for the moment to cut the thick air that now settles over you all.

“Though, it would take someone almost as skilled as we are to get through to you,” Yunho tells you. “Or even block us out.”

“Or someone hellbent to invade your mind,” San casually says, sipping on his drink.

“Even then, if you can keep us out with something as basic as your mental void,” Jongho comments, drawing your gaze to him on your left, “you won’t have to worry about anyone else getting through.”

“I hope you’re right.” You grab at your drink once more. Then, after taking another sip, you add, “does this also work if I want to let just one of you into my mind?”

Yeosang nods. “If that is what you so wish.”

You hum contently, pursing your lips as you nod your head in understanding.

“What else would you like to know?” Wooyoung asks eagerly, the excitement from earlier rushing through his veins again, considering how well this whole conversation with you seems to be going. Not to mention the entire day.

“More about your powers, honestly.” You reply. “I think it’s incredibly cool how powerful you all are.” Then, as if you’ve decided against your better judgement, you add quietly, “not to mention insanely attractive.”

Pleased hums echo all around the table.

“Thank you, Petal.” Yunho smiles wide, eye crinkling at the sides as he absolutely revels in your praises, just as he knows his brothers are doing so right now.

“Do you even have limits? Can you fight with weapons, too, or do you rely solely on strength and your powers alone? Just how strong are all of you?” You lean forwards in your seat, interest clear on your features. Though, at the way they all share a look, you blink. “What?”

“We’re just surprised that you’re interested in what the more violent aspects of our lives are.” Jongho leans back in his seat, casually slinging his arm around the back of your chair. The way you subtly lean into him has a smirk dancing on his features, much to the discontent of his brothers who either pout or glare at him in response.

“I’m curious.” Comes your simple reply, shrugging your shoulders mildly. “I want to know what you’re all capable of.” At the way you notice a few of them blinking at you in surprise, you’re quirking a brow teasingly, “did you think I only liked Sukuna because he’s drawn nicely?”

“Why do you like Sukuna?” Seonghwa nearly spits out the name like poison on his lips.

“Now, we don’t have enough time to unpack all of that,” you reply with a soft chuckle, grin tugging onto your features. Then, your eyes widen slightly as if you’ve realized a few things in the past few seconds alone. In the next moment, you seemingly calm yourself down. “To put it simply, though…” you trail off, noticing how they all seem to lean in slightly in anticipation, despite most of them attempting to look disinterested. “He’s powerful, has a great voice actor in the anime, and I like his tattoos.”

“Not as powerful as us,” Mingi grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Which is why I’m asking,” you reply, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. At the few side-eyed glances they send your way, you’re letting out a small sigh. “Alright, fine. If I’m being honest, I’ve always had an affinity towards specific characters that are able to fit certain tropes I like.”

Immediately, they all notice the way you sit forward in your seat, almost curling in on yourself as you avert your gaze to your lap in embarrassment. You seem to be nervously playing with your fingers as well - a sight only one of them has truly experienced before.

“What types of tropes?” Yeosang’s voice is soft as he attempts to coax you to look at them all once more.

“I’m a little embarrassed to say.” You mumble, heat rising to your cheeks as you keep your head down.

“My Love, please never feel embarrassed for your desires,” Hongjoong speaks after so long remaining silent.

“Believe me, that’s not the main reason why I’m embarrassed right now.” You smile tensely, a nervous pull to your lips.

They all share another look between each other, all quirking their brows.

Then, you’re letting out a breath to steel your nerves. “I’ve always had an affinity towards characters that could fit tropes like ‘touch them and I’ll kill you’-“ Seonghwa’s actions from earlier briefly flash through your mind and you glance upwards for a split second to see the way he seems to straighten in his spot, “but also, the ‘I hate everybody but you’ trope.”

You squeeze your eyes shut, lowering yourself to rest your forehead on the table in front of you as embarrassment floods your veins. You’ve just essentially admitted to liking what you’ve come to realize are a huge part of their personalities, and from the way you can hear pleased growls echoing lowly around the table, you know that they’ve realized it, too.

You let out a small groan, “please forget I said anything.”

“Why are you ashamed of wanting to feel special?” Wooyoung’s voice manages to pull you out of your shell, head lifting tentatively to look in his direction.

“I guess that’s really what it boils down to, huh?” You let out a puff of air, shifting so that your arms are now crossed beneath your head for support as you continue to lean against the table. “Being that one person someone would do anything and everything for.”

A spark of recognition flashes through your eyes, causing you to hide your face in your arms, feeling as if you’re about to spontaneously combust with how your whole body heats from embarrassment. Of course, it doesn’t help that you feel eight gentle caresses against your void in that very moment in time.

“So,” your voice is small, almost meek as you mumble into the crook of your elbow, “your powers?”

Cautiously, you peek up from your arm to see all eight of them looking at you fondly, a certain smugness shining within their eyes as their lips quirk upwards in the corners. You exhale a loud puff of air through your nose, a pout tugging at your own lips still hidden by your arms.

“Well, Yunho’s already told you about our abilities,” Mingi says, the first to break the tension, of which you could not be more grateful for.

“Yeah, and they’re fucking incredible!” Immediately, you’re perking up, head raising as excitement courses through your veins. “You’re telling me you two-“ you meet his gaze briefly before shifting your eyes to San, “can control the four elements like the avatar? That’s cool as fuck.”

Oh, how each of the other six want to wipe those shit-eating grins right off of both Mingi’s and San’s faces as your say that. Why can’t you talk about their abilities like that first?

“If we weren’t in public, I’d demonstrate for you,” San smirks, eyes hooded as he leans back in his chair proudly.

“Can you also do everything benders can do in Avatar?” You ask eagerly. “Like with blood and stuff?”

“It’s a liquid, isn’t it?” San quirks a brow at you smugly.

“So, you could literally rip someone’s air out of their lungs if you wanted to.” It’s not so much a question, but a statement.

“Quite literally,” Mingi nods, grinning from ear to ear, “yes.”

“Well, aren’t you a little bundle of violence today?” Wooyoung jokes, a teasing lilt to his voice as a pleasant shiver runs up his spine.

“Oh, always.” The grin that stretches across your lips is nothing short of maniacal. A fact of which sends shivers racing down each one of their spines instantly, thoughts overcome by the implication behind your words. “But no, I’m just curious,” you meet his stare with a raised brow, as if challenging his gaze. “Speaking of, I hear you can shift into any creature imaginable.” You look from Wooyoung to Jongho. “Any limits?”

“None that we haven’t been able to overcome throughout the years,” Wooyoung replies smugly, tongue dragging along his suddenly razor sharp top row of teeth as he smirks.

“So, fictional creatures aren’t off of the table?” You tilt your head in inquiry.

“Did you have something in mind?” Jongho grins, a little too eagerly.

“Perhaps.” You look between them, a Cheshire grin stretching across your features which only causes their hearts to race from the way you’re now looking at them. “When you shift, is it a full body transformation, or can you also shift only certain parts of yourself?”

“We can do both.” Jongho confirms.

“Certainly helps in the middle of battle to suddenly have the claws of a griffin, or the tail of a stegosaurus.” Wooyoung adds, nonchalantly.

Immediately, your hand practically slams itself on top of the table, the excitement practically pouring off of you in waves. “You can transform into dinosaurs?”

“Like we said,” Jongho grins at your enthusiasm, “anything and everything you could imagine.”

“And here I was thinking dragons or wyverns were going to be the coolest things you could transform into.” You mutter, eyes wide as you shake your head in disbelief.

“If you ever want us to shift into something for you, all you need to do is ask.” Jongho mentions casually, much to the discontent of his brothers. Well, all except one.

“Noted.” You nod, clearly impressed. Then, you’re shifting your attention to one of the males directly across from you. “How does your control over animals work?” You spare a glance at Yeosang. “Is it like a control over their bodies, or you can manipulate their thoughts into doing what you want them to?”

“A little bit of both,�� Yeosang responds. “Honestly, it’s become like second nature to us now, but we can control different animals to tame them, or simply borrow their prowess for battles.”

“Are different animals easier to control than others?” You ask, looking between the two males.

“Some are, and some aren’t. It just depends on their nature.” Seonghwa admits. “Though it’s been a while since we’ve had difficulty taming one.”

“Any type of animal?” You quirk a brow.

“Any type of animal.” Yeosang nods in confirmation, glancing briefly at Yunho across the table as if the male has just said something to him in his mind. “Even dragons.”

“Okay, one of you is taking me to see dragons at some point in time,” you raise your one hand, using a finger to point at each of them that sits around the table.

Wooyoung receives a harsh kick beneath the table from Yeosang before the younger can even think about voicing his thoughts about simply shifting into one for you instead.

“Whatever you want, Dearest,” Yeosang smiles, his heart warming at the eagerness in your tone.

Only, in the next moment, your expression is dropping. Horror paints your features as you come to the realization about something. 

“If there are giant spiders in this word, I do not want to know. And I’m not talking about huntsman spiders or whatever those types of giant ones are. I’m talking, like, Shelob type spiders.” A shudder of disgust runs down your back. “Bleh. No, thank you.”

Seonghwa’s eyebrows quirk upwards in amusement.

“Actually, keep any and all other spiders away from me, too.” You shake your head. “And any giant centipedes.”

Hongjoong chuckles. “Of course, My Love.”

Another shudder runs down your spine as you shake your head once more, clearing your thoughts of the mental image of such creatures. In the next moment, you’re meeting Hongjoong’s gaze from across the table.

“So, you two,” you briefly glance towards Yunho, “can control the weather.”

San lets out a small snort of laughter at such a basic statement.

“At the most basic level, that’s what it could be interpreted as, yes.” Hongjoong nods.

“Any type of extreme natural element you could think of, or catastrophic natural event, we have control over.” Yunho explains.

“Elaborate.” Your eyes narrow slightly, recalling the way he instantly created a storm out of nothing that one day he took you to that clearing.

“We can cause severe natural disasters in the blink of an eye without a second thought,” Hongjoong says, sipping at his drink before beginning to chew on the end of his straw.

“Volcanoes, storms, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes: you name it.” Yunho nods along with his Captain.

“So, different than the two Roku’s over here.” You motion briefly to both San and Mingi.

“Sadly, we can not control magma,” San sighs, a hint of disappointment in his tone.

“Or create storms like they can,” Mingi adds, leaning forward to rest his chin on his open palm.

“But all four of you can manipulate some forms of the same elements?” You inquire, brow furrowed slightly in confusion.

“To a certain extent,” Hongjoong shrugs, a bit nonchalantly. “Like lightning.”

“Though, they have an easier time doing it than we do,” Mingi admits with a bit of a wistful sigh.

“Ah,” your eyebrows raise in understanding, “I see.”

“It’s like how the four of us can all understand animals,” Jongho tells you, “but only Yeosang and Seonghwa can get them to listen to them, even if they’re not necessarily controlling them.”

“You guys can also understand animals?” Your lips part in awe. “That’s amazing!”

“Thank you, Dearest,” Yeosang matches your happy expression with one of his own, lips pulling into a smile as he meets your gaze.

A small silence settles around the nine of you as you take another sip of your drink, seemingly getting lost in your thoughts as your eyes stare at the table before you blankly. A fact which just makes them all curious to know where your mind has went for the moment.

“Where’d you go?” Wooyoung teases, voice light as he manages to pull you out of your thoughts and back to the reality in front of you.

You blink a few times, settling your drink back onto the table. Your lips tug upwards almost teasingly, a lilt to your words, “next time, lead with this stuff. Like I said before, it’s insanely attractive.”

Low growls of content echo all around the table, each male looking exceptionally pleased with themselves for the moment. The fact that such an intrinsic detail of who they are can attract you to them makes them smug beyond belief. If only they knew this sooner.

“What else do you find extremely attractive?” San is the first to voice all their thoughts, looking at you through hooded eyes as you sit beside him.

You take a moment to consider if you want to respond or not, but after a moment, you think ‘to hell with it’ and lean back comfortably in your seat. Your own gaze is calculating as you look around at the eight men around you.

“Intelligence.” You respond, tilting your chin ever so slightly in the air as your sharp eyes practically pierce their very souls. “Kindness, humour, consideration,” you list off, “but more than all of that,” something within your eyes flashes in the next moment, causing each male to hold their breaths in anticipation, “passion.”

You can see the way your words affect them, given how theirs chests rise and fall dramatically, dark gazes fixed on you. You can feel Jongho shift beside you, his arm that is still slung casually around the back of your chair tensing the slightest bit as he, along with the others, attempt to control themselves for the time being.

You want kindness? Intelligence? Passion? Anything you could ever desire they are more than ready and willing to give to you. At any time, each male is more than eager to please you in any and every way they know how, and now that they know what you like, they are more than happy to comply to your wishes.

They will show you a kindness that no one has ever given to you before, reserved for you and only you. A kindness that will never have anyone questioning their love, their loyalty for you.

If you desire, they will spend hours talking with you about the cosmos. About how the world has changed through the ages, and what they saw when they witnessed such things. They will share their knowledge with you, stimulating you in every way they know how to supply your mind with the most interesting and thoughtful topics they can. After all, they are always ready to both provide for and impress you in every and any way they can.

Most importantly of all, though, they are more than ready and willing to drown you in the fires of their passions, which blaze brightly for you and only you. Anything you want. Anything you need. They will provide, willingly and happily. With every word, through every action, they want you to feel their desire for you burning within them. For you to understand that you are the only one for them, and they are the only one for you. 

No one else has made them feel this way. No one else will ever make them feel this way. All that they are, all that they will be, belongs to you. Always and forever, you.

A passion of which they will surround you in, making sure that you never question their desire - their devotion - to you ever again.

“Thank you for your honesty.” It’s the eldest who’s repeating your own words from earlier back to you, that all too familiar blackness swirling within his eyes as he swallows the sudden dryness in his throat.

You raise your drink acknowledgment in his direction before bringing the straw to your lips once more.

“If you want to know something,” you begin to say, placing your drink back onto the table in front of you, “just ask.”

Wooyoung goes to open his mouth, only for a loud ouch to escape him in the next moment, having been both kicked once more by Yeosang beneath the table, and elbowed quite harshly by Yunho in the ribs beside him.

Your brows quirk upwards expectantly, yet none of them let on as to what’s just occurred.

We’re not asking her that. She’s already told us that it’s a topic for a later time. Mingi frowns at the male directly across from him.

Like you guys don’t want to know, too. Wooyoung pouts, crossing his arms as he begins to sulk.

You have no idea how badly I want to know, but there’s a time and place for everything. Hongjoong’s eyes flash as he flicks his gaze over to the younger for a brief moment.

Fine. Wooyoung grumbles. You’re right.

“So,” your voice is drawing their attention to you once more, fondness shining in their eyes at the fact that you still want to know more about them, “you still haven’t answered my question about weapons, and if you’re all skilled at any.”

“We all have specific skill sets that we’ve honed and perfected over the years as our own,” Seonghwa confirms, stretching his legs out beneath the table in order to cross his ankles over one another.

“Which are?” You lean forwards eagerly.

“Jongho is incredible with axes,” Mingi comments. “Battle axes, hatchets, you name it.”

“So, don’t challenge him to an axe throwing competition, got it.” You grin, turning your awe filled gaze onto the youngest beside you whom you notice has a small tint of red creeping up his neck from the praise.

“Yeosang is the archer,” Yunho says, sipping on the final dregs of his drink. “Can hit a bird blindfolded from over one-hundred and fifty feet away.”

“Wow,” your lips part in a gasp, eyes sparkling as your gaze is now fixed on the blond haired male to your right. “I’ve always liked archery, ever since I was small.”

“I’ll teach you sometime,” the words are out of his mouth before any of his brothers can stop him.

“I’d love that.” Your smile is instantaneous, the excitement clear in your voice.

Oh, if only you knew how jealous that one simple phrase has made the other seven males around the table. Why can’t you be as excited about them right now? Why can’t you look at them like that?

Yeosang smiles back, heart fluttering erratically in his chest as he is consumed by your awe-filled gaze looking at him right now. Not even the loud complaining of his brothers in his mind could pull him off of cloud nine.

“Wooyoung is the master of poisons.” San adds with a loud clearing of his throat, drawing your attention to the split-dyed male to your left. A shiver runs down your spine as you feel San lean into you, the ghost of his breath tickling your neck right below your ear. “Also, a master of seduction.”

Your spine straightens, noting the way Wooyoung’s gaze has darkened while keeping his eyes fixed on you. He licks his lips, smirk tugging at the corner in the next second as a sense of smugness settles over him.

“Poisons, you say?” Your eyebrow twitches upwards, a dangerous gleam beginning to shine in your eyes.

“I can’t count the amount I’ve created in the past year alone,” it’s not quite a boast, but you can still hear the way pride laces his tone.

“Dangerous and cunning,” you grin wolfishly, and the expression has a shiver of pleasure running down his spine. “I like it.”

If Wooyoung could roar in happiness, he would. Nothing could have prepared him for your reaction. The way you gaze at him, with that hooded expression, has him shifting in his seat, biting at the inside of his lip to suppress the moan that wants to escape him. In the back of his mind, he begins to wonder if it’s truly him that is the master of seduction, and not you.

It’s Seonghwa’s voice that draws your attention next, somewhat pointed with a hint of bitterness lingering on his tongue as he sits with his arms crossed over his chest. “San is good with spears and poles.”

“Seduction? Poles?” Your quirk a brow in amusement. “You guys are doing wonders to combat the stripper allegations right now.”

Mingi nearly spits out his drink, coughing in the next second as Yeosang pats his back comfortingly. You begin to feel Jongho chuckling from beside you at the wide-eyed looks on his brother’s faces across from him.

“If you want us to strip so badly for you, Darling,” this time, it’s the youngest who leans in to whisper into your ear. “All you have to do is ask.”

Immediately, your spine straightens once more, a heat rushing to your cheeks as you clear your throat. “Moving on.”

San’s eyes flash at the eldest across from him.

“You make it sound so trivial, brother,” San scoffs, discontent on his features. “I’m more than good.”

“You know,” you turn to him, resting an elbow on the table as you prop up your head with your hand, “it’s surprisingly very fitting.”

“What? San as a stripper?” Mingi’s brow furrows in confusion.

“I meant his weapon of choice being a spear,” you clarify, a chuckle escaping you as you shoot a playfully pointed look at Mingi. Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice the tips of San’s ears turning red.

“Spears aren’t all I’m good at using,” his voice is low, and you do not fail to pick up on the suggestive undertones of his words.

Only, you’re not biting.

“Yes, we know you’re good with poles,” you tease. “Really, if you want to be a stripper so badly, I’m not going to judge you. I think it’s a very credible occupation to have.”

“They are always on the grind,” Wooyoung adds, joining in on the fun with a devious grin stretching across his features.

“Working around the clock,” it’s Yeosang who says it, and it catches you so off guard that you can’t help but burst out laughing.

“Okay,” your face reflects the joy you’re feeling at the moment, causing the blond male to absolutely swoon both from knowing he was the cause of your laughter, and this beautiful expression to pull at your features, “that was good.”

“Come on, guys,” Jongho leans forward slightly, a wolfish grin tugging onto his own lips, “it’s not that hard to leave him alone. Let him finish.”

Immediately, the hand that is supporting your head on the table moves to cover the lower half of your face as you eyes slip closed. You cannot help it, for in the next moment, your shoulders start shaking in laughter, even as you attempt to control yourself for the time being. The fact that you can hear Wooyoung’s, Yunho’s, and Mingi’s boisterous laughter isn’t helping, either.

“It’s not funny,” San grumbles, pout tugging at his lips as he crosses his arms in front of his chest, slumping down in his chair.

“Like I said,” you grin, shifting your hand back to supporting the side of your head as you turn your attention back onto the male beside you. “It’s so easy to tease you guys.”

San’s pout deepens at hearing the few chuckles his brothers let out from around the table, his eyebrows drooping as he look back at you.

“Are tridents including in your arsenal of choice?” You ask, the curious gleam in your eyes enough to lessen his pout for the moment.

“Of course,” his lip twitches upwards in the corner.

“Sick.” You nod. “Tridents are cool as fuck.”

Immediately, a vibrant smile paints his lips, eyes crinkling in joy. “Thank you, baby.”

You smile back at him, turning back to the rest of the men sitting at the table with their attention on you. You seem to be making a lot of progress with San today. A fact in which makes the other seven tremendously jealous, fires blazing within their souls and causing snarls to build in their chests. So badly do they want that to be them.

For the second time that day, you attempt to reach out yourself with your mind. Though this time, you follow the direction of that soft pink string tethered to the edge of your void. The one you just know belongs to the man with the bright pink hair sitting beside you.

As soon as he feels you brushing up against his mind, he clings onto that feeling like never before. A shiver runs down his spine as he looks to you out of the corner of his eyes, noting the way you seem to be keeping that mental connection with him open for the moment. Him, and only him. San smirks.

Just us? Your voice, tentative and a bit wary resonates in his mind, free of the prying thoughts of his brothers.

Just us, baby. He confirms, anticipation clawing at his chest at the significance of this moment right here with you. In the back of his mind, he begins to wonder what you want to say to him that you can’t say in front of his brothers. Or perhaps, you don’t want his brothers to know.

Perfect. You respond, and he can hear the way you hum in content. A brief pause in which your eyes are flitting to his as you continue to face front before a smirk daces onto your lips. My Aquaman.

The snarl that tears from San’s throat is unlike anything that you’ve heard before. It’s so loud, that a few heads turn from the surrounding tables, looking around for the sudden sound. Somewhere in the background, you vaguely hear someone muttering about a dog being set loose in the mall again. That is, until your mind is consumed by San’s all too vivid thoughts purposely projecting themselves into your mind.

In the blink of an eye, you see him hovering above you, his lips swollen as if he’s been doing nothing but kiss you like his life depends on it. Then, a shiver is running down your spine as he slides his one hand over your bare pussy, fingers dipping through your folds as he moans.

So wet for me. You hear him groan in this vision of yours, and you watch as this image of him brings his fingers to his lips, sucking at your essence eagerly. 

In the next moment, he’s pushing you down onto the surface of the table you seem to be sitting on top of while parting your legs so that he can sink to his knees between them. He locks eyes with you, and the darkness you see swirling there has your breath hitching in both the vision, and in reality.

Let me swim in your ocean, baby girl. He grins, licking his lips. I want to drown in you.

Just as you see him begin to lean into you, you slam your void down in your mind, blocking him out once more.

You don’t know who’s panting more: you or him. What you do know, is that all eight pairs of eyes are on you, watching your every movement carefully.

San’s lips are parted as he continues to stare at you with hooded eyes. Again, he can practically taste you on his tongue, mouth salivating at the fact that he was able to share such a vivid desire of his with you. The fact that you didn’t immediate pull away, or close your void instantly on him makes him all the more smug in this moment right now. At least none of his brothers can say that they’ve done that.

You swallow thickly, attempting to control your racing heart for the time being as they all continue staring at you with dark eyes. Something tells you that you’re not the only one affected in the exact same ways by this turn of events, especially as you faintly see their chests heaving with silent breaths with each inhale they take.

What did you do? Seonghwa’s voice demands of the younger demon as his eyes pierce San’s own from across the table.

Something I’ve only ever dreamed of before. San replies smugly, that same damn grin tugging at his features.

Seonghwa nearly lets out a snarl in warning at the younger until Hongjoong is shooting them both a sharp look.

Control yourselves. Hongjoong snaps. The both of you.

To be far, the eldest isn’t the only one willing to rip San’s tongue out right now. Yunho rumbles, eyes livid and calling for blood at the glimpses of the vision that had just been projected into your mind.

I’m not happy about it either, but we were having such a lovely day out with our girl. Mingi voices. Let’s not ruin it now.

I’m with Mingi on this one. Wooyoung adds, exhaling a long sigh through his nose.

We’ll have to get used to this sooner or later. Yeosang reminds them all, leaning back in his chair as he runs his fingers through his hair.

Let’s just continue the conversation, now, shall we? Hongjoong shoots each of them a stern look, eyes narrowed in discontent.

With the clearing of his throat, Jongho speaks once more, breaking the tension that had arisen between the nine of you. “Mingi is a dual wielder.”

“Oh, cool!” Immediately, the tension drops from your shoulders as you turn to the male on your right. “What type of blades?”

“Curved blades or katanas, it really just depends on my mood.” Mingi shrugs nonchalantly, a large smile painting his features at the way your excited expression returns to your features.

“What type of curved blade? Like a scimitar or…?” You trail off with your inquiry, looking at him expectantly with wide eyes.

“Again, depends on my mood.” Mingi shrugs. “Though my favourites are my two shorter blades curved like human spines.”

You blink, caught off guard by his admission. “Like spines?”

“You dumbass. Just say they curve like an ’S’,” Jongho rolls his eyes, and if he could kick his elder brother from beneath the table, he would.

“Same thing,” Mingi waves him off, much to the younger’s discontent, the two making faces at the other soon afterwards and causing you to chuckle from their antics.

“Speaking of those of us that use swords,” Yeosang begins. “Seonghwa is a master when it comes to every type of sword there is, but especially the broad sword.”

For a brief moment, you recall how he reacted when you were talking about that bejewelled sword in David’s shop.

Your eyes, widen slightly in realization. So, that’s why he reacted the way he did. A small heat rises to your cheeks, recalling the admission your best friend also let slip while you were in there. As soon as you meet Seonghwa’s gaze from across the table, your breath hitches, and you just know he’s thinking about it, too.

“Fuck,” the curse is out of your mouth before you can stop yourself, nothing more than a breathless exclamation on your lips.

The smirk that tugs onto Seonghwa’s features is deadly, a sense of pride washing over him as he takes in your unfiltered reaction now. Oh, so badly does he wish he could let the roar of happiness that builds in his chest out, allowing the sound to echo around the building and ring in his ears, serving as a reminder to him that this moment here in time is indeed real.

You clear your throat, “that’s really impressive.”

Seonghwa’s features shift into a genuine smile, the pride continuing to swell in his chest and spread outwards until it’s practically warming the very tips of his fingers. So badly does he just want to reach out and pull you into his arms, sharing in this moment with you together as one, but he cannot. At least, not yet.

“I’ll show you my collection some time,” he voices, much to Hongjoong’s displeasure.

A certain Captain of theirs wanted the pleasure of offering you to see his blade collection first. Hongjoong wants nothing more than to share in that intimacy together, but looks like fate has other plans.

“I’d really like that,” you grin excitedly, eyes twinkling at the thought of getting to see more blades.

Before he can lose his nerve, Hongjoong adds, “we can all show you our weapon’s collections, if you’d like.”

“Hell yes!” Your reply is immediate, the eagerness rolling off of your in waves. “You’d all really let me see them?”

“Of course,” Mingi mirrors your expression of joy, wide smile and all.

“Yay!” You grin, the giddiness clear in the way you wiggle slightly in your seat. Then, your gaze is shifting between both Hongjoong and Yunho. “What about you two?”

��Well, Yunho is the best of us mentally,” Wooyoung wraps his arm around the taller man’s shoulders, giving him an affectionate squeeze in the next moment. “His capabilities are unmatched.”

“That is…” you search for the proper words, “also very fitting.” Then, your lips are pursing in interest. “You ever make anyone’s head explode?”

“Quite often,” he admits with a nod, shrugging Wooyoung off of him in the next moment. “Though, shredding through someone’s mind is much more satisfying.”

“Sounds like fun,” you acknowledge with a few nods.

They all blink at you in mild shock, clearly not expecting this type of response.

“What?” You raise a hand in the air slightly. “I’ve thought about a lot more than just dismemberment before.”

“I think you’ll fit right in with us just fine,” Wooyoung grins, along with San, Seonghwa, and even Hongjoong cannot suppress the smirk that pulls at his lips.

“Perhaps,” you hum, giving him a once over which has a pleasant shiver running down his spine. In the blink of an eye, you’re turning your attention to the blue haired man in front of you. “What about you, Captain?”

Hongjoong nearly lets a moan escape past his lips as he hears you call him that for the first time, his whole body twitching eagerly in response. He shifts in his seat, swallowing the sudden dryness in his throat as he stares back at you with an equally dark gaze.

“My specialty is small knives,” his voice is low, rough with the rawness of his desire which he’s barely holding back at this very moment as he meets your hooded eyes. “Particularly daggers.”

Your breath hitches in your throat, momentarily forgetting how to breathe as you stare, transfixed, at the male before you. In an instant, your heart begins racing in your chest, your spine straightening as you sit still as a stone in your seat.

“Daggers.” You repeat, voice somewhat airy.

“Never misses a target, either,” San leans in to whisper in your ear, yet you don’t even react, much to the younger male’s disappointment.

You swallow thickly, blinking a few times as if to pull yourself out of the daze you’re in. Then, a smirk pulls at your features as you recall his own reaction to learning about that specific item in David’s shop.

“Not going to lie,” you don’t bother to look away from Hongjoong as you speak, noticing how he hangs onto your every word with bated breath. “That’s incredibly attractive.”

This time, it’s Hongjoong that cannot suppress the snarl that tears from his throat, causing even more heads to turn at the sudden sound. You vaguely hear that same person complaining about a wild dog being let into the mall again before you feel a familiar brushing against your mind.

Focussing in on the red string that’s practically humming in movement, you open your mind to him for the time being. You don’t even need to ask this time to know that it’s just the two of you.

Daggers. Huh, My Love? He quirks a brow at you, lips curling smugly over pointed teeth. If I’d have know it was this easy to seduce you, I would have told you sooner.

You quirk a brow in response, and in a flash, Hongjoong is privy to your all too vivid thoughts, nearly drawing another moan from the male’s lips.

There he is, kneeling on the ground before you as you tilt his chin upwards to look at you using what he can only assume is the dagger you were so fond of from that jewellery shop. The way you envision gazing down at him, eyes hooded and dark as you practically emanate dominance over him has his cock twitching beneath his jeans.

Now, Captain… he hears your voice drawl throughout his head, the mental image of you speaking in perfect time with the words that resonate through his head. Who’s seducing who?

Hongjoong’s breathing deepens, lips parting as he watches you quirk a brow at him from across the table. All too soon, you’re closing yourself off to him once more, the vision fading before his very eyes as he attempts to cling onto whatever last remnants that he can.

That is most certainly being added to his collection later tonight.

You clear your throat in the next moment, pushing your chair back and standing back to your feet, much to Jongho’s displeasure. You simply chuckle at him as you hear him grumbling under his breath about how he wanted to sit with you longer.

“Well, I still have a few more things to get,” you say, stretching your arms out in front of you while cracking your neck, hearing a few satisfying cracks come of it. “Shall we?”

Instantly, all eight men are back on their feet. Save for Hongjoong who takes slightly longer than the rest, subtly adjusting himself before standing back up. 

You smile, glancing around at all of them as they grab all of your bags once more.

“Where to next?” It’s Wooyoung who asks, immediately stepping up to your side as you go to throw your empty drink cup out with them all following close behind.

“There’s a shop I have in mind, so just follow me.” You reply, tossing the cup in the trash as you pass by, noticing them all do the same.

Soon, you’ve led them all to the music store, albums lining the space on different displays showcasing the various genres scattered throughout the area. Immediately, you find your way to one section in particular, scanning over the titles to see if they have any of the recent comebacks you’ve missed.

You begin to chuckle like a maniac, “excellent.”

“What?” Jongho grumbles, pout tugging at his lips as he sees you excitedly pull a few albums off of the shelf.

“They’ve got all of my favourite group’s recent comebacks.” You wiggle your brows at him in excitement, holding the pile of albums in your arms quite tightly to your chest.

“Come on, let’s go pay,” Seonghwa practically drags you to the front once you begin to make your way to the cash line.

Really, they all can’t wait to get out of this store. Yes, they do all love seeing you happy. However, when that happiness is caused by other men, men of which they know you have desired at some point or other in your life, they cannot help but get jealous. They hate not being some of the only recipients of your affection.

Reaching the cash desk, you place the albums on top of the counter for the worker to begin scanning. You can tell that she’s a fan of some of the groups you’ve selected from the way her eyes light up as she begins to go through each item.

“Are you a Stay?” She asks excitedly, hitting a few keys on the register as she begins bagging your albums.

“Oh, one-hundred percent!” You reply happily. “Are you?”

“Definitely. I still can’t get over this comeback.” She replies, and you nod along with her eagerly. “The unit songs killed me.”

“Oh, yeah? Who’s your bias?” You inquire, a gleam in your eyes.

“I absolutely adore Bang Chan, I think he’s one of the best leaders out there right now.” She tells you, marking off the albums that are being sold in a separate notebook for inventory purposes. “Though, Han and I.N. give me way too much trouble.”

“I get that! Almost all of my friends also bias Chan.” You nod along with her. “They’re all great guys, though.”

You can practically feel Seonghwa bristling beside you, so you nudge him subtly with your arm.

“Who’s your bias?” She asks, eyes wide and shining in excitement.

“Hmm, good question.” You hum, purposely bringing a finger up to tap at your chin. “Sometimes, it’s Changbin. Other times it’s Minho. Yet, I can’t help but get wrecked by both Hyunjin and Felix, but they’re all great, really! ”

“Oh, don’t even get me started on Felix’s voice.” She practically melts in her spot, fake swooning as you share a laugh. “Then you must be absolutely wrecked by dance-racha’s unit song.”

“You have no idea.” You breathe out, and you can practically feel a specific pair of eyes boring into your back from outside of the store. You don’t even have to look to know exactly who it is.

In the next moment, she’s telling you your total, and instinctually, you go to reach for your wallet. Only, Seonghwa already has his card out and ready.

“You’re such a gentleman!” She comments. “I wish my significant other would pay for my albums.”

“Oh, he’s not-“ you don’t even get a chance to protest before he cuts you off with a chuckle.

At her praise, Seonghwa practically lights up, a smugness pulling onto his features as he grins. “As long as she’s happy, that’s all that matters.”

“Oh, you guys are so cute together!” She adds, placing the receipt in the bag before handing it to you from over the counter.

Just as you go to reach for it, Seonghwa beats you to it, only causing the girl to shoot you a subtle knowing look from behind the register.

“Enjoy your albums, I hope you pull your bias!” She cheers, sending you off with a wave. “You two have a lovely day.”

“Thank you,” you give a polite wave back, smiling at her as you both leave the shop.

Stepping outside the store, you walk back over to the other seven waiting in the hallway. All wear looks of discontent on their faces at hearing you praise those idols so openly.

“Dance-racha, huh?” Wooyoung isn’t subtle, leaning into you as you begin to make your way down the hall once more.

“Yes? What about them?” You reply casually.

“You like them.” Yeosang observes, somewhat bitterly.

“I enjoy them, yes.” You confirm with a slight nod of your head.

“And this new song of theirs.” Hongjoong states, glancing at you out of the corner of his eyes.

“I do, indeed.” You breathe, mind already providing the chorus of their newest song, Taste, for you as you smirk to yourself.

Only, before any of them can say anything else, an excited gasp is escaping your lips as you run over to one of the shop windows.

“Guys, look!” You point inside. “Kittens!”

Literally, how can they stay bitter and petty when you’re looking at them with such wide eyes filled with adoration and excitement. So, of course, when you enter the store, Yeosang, Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Mingi, and Yunho all follow you inside. Jongho, San, and Wooyoung are all in charge of bag duty for the moment, but from the way you see them conversing between each other quite eagerly, you don’t think they mind.

Sure enough, when you enter the shop, you’re able to get a closer look at the litter of kittens playing in the front display. 

You begin cooing at the sight, talking to the animals softly as all five males watch you with fond gazes. Even Jongho, San and Wooyoung get a front row seat to how adorable you look making faces at the kittens through the large window. All eight men cannot help but to smile.

Yeosang takes this opportunity to step up beside you, wiggling a finger in front of the glass as a pure black kitten with golden eyes stares transfixed at him. Then, as if reading your mind, it turns to look at you with it’s big, golden orbs, letting out a little mewl in the next second.

“I think Kuroo likes you,” suddenly, a lady is beside you on your opposite side. 

You assume she must be the shop owner, for she wears an apron with the store’s logo on it, a kind smile on her face.

“Kuroo?” Your eyes flash in recognition of the name. “The black cat with the golden eye’s name is Kuroo?”

“Yes,” she chuckles. “My daughter is a big fan of that one sport’s anime, and I let her name a few of the kittens.”

“That’s adorable!” Your lips part in awe as you turn back to the kitten in question, noticing Yeosang staring at you fondly as you do so. “He’s so cute!”

“Would you like to hold him?” She asks, already moving to unlock the little display to grab him out of the case.

“May I?” You ask, excitedly.

“Of course, sweetie,” she smiles, already reaching inside to pull the cat out and place him gently in your arms.

“Oh, aren’t you just the handsomest little thing,” you coo, scratching at his head as he nuzzles into you. “Guys, look!” You turn to the five other males standing off to the side. “Isn’t he adorable?”

Your excitement rubs off on them, all of them not being able to control how lovingly they’re staring at you right now as you continue to coo little things at the kitten held in your arms. If they could freeze this moment right here in time with you, they would. Sadly, that ability is not an aspect of their powers.

The longer you stare at this cat with it’s wide eyed gaze looking back at you, the more you realize that you feel like you’ve seen this exact same expression somewhere before. You blink, shifting your gaze across the store to the back of the tall male with the soft pink hair who is now currently looking at some rabbits on display.

“What are you thinking?” Yeosang notices you continuously glancing down at the cat and back up at the eldest in time.

“Call me crazy, but,” you lean in to whisper, adjusting the kitten in your grip until you’re holding it in the air at eye level, it’s round eyes blinking back at you. “Hey, Seonghwa?”

Said male turns to look at you with the same exact wide-eyed expression that the kitten wears, and you can hear Yeosang let out a chuckle beside you.

“Spot the difference.” You mutter, and he snorts out a laugh. “There is none."

“The resemblance is uncanny.” He adds in a low voice, and you laugh in response.

“These games are getting damn near impossible these days.” You chuckle once more, noticing how the eldest pouts from across the store before turning back around. A soft mewl from your hands has your attention back onto the kitten in front of you, bringing him back to rest against your chest. “What’s the matter, little Tetsurou? Are you sleepy?”

The kitten yawns in response, stretching as much as he can in your arms before his eyes are fluttering shut.

“Oh, big yawn!” You coo, softly petting his head as he curls into you.

Yeosang cannot help but to smile as he steps closer, hand practically brushing against yours as he softly pets the kitten in your arms.

“Do you want him?” He asks gently, eyes glancing upwards from the kitten in your arms to meet your gaze.

“Oh, uh,” you blink, not actually having thought this far ahead. “No.” You shake your head. “No, that’s okay.”

Even though you send him a smile, Yeosang isn’t all that reassured.

Two minutes later and you’ve given the kitten back to the lady with a small thank you and a smile on your lips. She waves you off politely, telling you to come back if you change your mind.

You get a few paces down the hallway before you’re speaking once more. “Okay, there’s really only one more place I need to check out before we can go back home.” 

Each male does not fail to notice how you’ve finally referred to your shared place as your home. Soft smiles tug at their features as they gaze at you with nothing but adoration in their eyes, hearts warming in their chests at that simple fact alone.

“But first,” you stop in front of a separate hallway that leads off to the side. “I’ll be right back.”

In the blink of an eye, you’re scurrying off to the washrooms.

In no time at all, you’re in front of the sink, simply washing your hands when you hear a squeal from behind you. Figuring it’s someone else, you nearly shriek when you feel someone wrap their arms around you from behind, an excited call of your name falling from their lips.

Your eyes widen. You’d recognize that voice anywhere.

“Reina!” A large smile is painted on your features as you turn around in her arms to return her hug just as tightly as she’s squeezing you right now. “Oh my god, how are you? I’ve missed you so much, I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“I know!” She replies, just as enthusiastically. “I’m great! So glad I could run into you today, honestly.”

“It must be fate,” you chuckle.

“What are you doing right now? Are you busy?” She inquires. “I’m meeting my girlfriend in an hour, but I’d love to be able to catch up with you.”

“Girlfriend?” You shoot her an eager look.

“We have so much to catch up on, you don’t even know.” She replies with a wink.

“I’d love that!” You exclaim, nodding eagerly. “I’ll wait for you, then.”

“Great! Amazing! Cool!” She cheers. “I’ll be as quick as I can!”

“Take your time,” you smile at her as she hurriedly enters a stall before you.

Moving off to the side to pull out your phone for the moment, you open your void to the eight males still waiting for you in the hallway.

You’ll never guess who I just ran into. Your ecstatic voice resounds in all of their heads.

Who, My Love? It’s Hongjoong that responds first.

Reina! I haven’t seen her in ages! You reply eagerly. I’m going to spend the next hour with her until she has to meet up with her girlfriend. So, I’ll meet you guys back at the entrance where we first got here at that time.

A moment of silence.

You will do no such thing. The harshness you hear in Seonghwa’s voice has you blinking down at your phone is shock.

Ex-fucking-cuse me? You match his tone. You cannot keep me away from my friends. This is my decision, and I’m choosing to spend the next hour catching up with my friend, who, need I remind you, is the reason you all even know who I am.

We just don’t like being away from you for so long, Dearest. Yeosang attempts to reason with you.

You had no issues with it last night. You retort.

That was different. San states.

Different how? Your frown is prominent on your features. Because I was trapped in a place only you could get to?

Each male doesn’t fail to notice your choice of words.

We don’t want to argue with you, Petal. Yunho’s tone is soft, attempting to both calm you and assure you at the same time.

Then stop making this into a fight! You snap. Trust goes both ways.

That seems to shut them up for a good few seconds.

We just worry we won’t be able to protect you if you go off by yourself. Jongho is the first to break the silence.

Then what are these strings for? You sigh, exasperatedly. I thought the whole purpose of us implementing them was so I could call you when I need you whenever we’re apart.

Well, yes, but-

No ‘but’s! You cut Mingi off. I want to spend time with my friend. I’m going to spend time with my friend. 

Like hell you are. Seonghwa spits out, and again, you’re taken aback by his harsh tone.

I don’t need your permission to do so. You snap back, just as intensely. In the back of your mind, you begin to wonder where the fuck this is all coming from.

We just don’t want something to happen to you. San sighs.

You don’t even have to leave the mall. I don’t care what you choose to do. Go shop on your own for an hour, or something. You say, close to begging at this point. Just please, let me spend some time with my friend.

Only if we can stay with you. Comes Wooyoung’s soft reply, and you notice that this is the first time he’s spoken during this whole fiasco.

That’s not going to work. You sigh audibly.

Then, I’m afraid we’re not leaving your side. Hongjoong replies, tone gentle as if he’s afraid of setting you off again.

Can’t we just, I don’t know, vote on it, or something. You can’t believe you’ve had to resort to this.

If that is what you so wish. Yeosang shares a look with all of his brothers.

Thank you, you reply pointedly. Well, obviously you all know my vote. I want to spend time with my friend.

I think it would be good, too, honestly. All seven of them turn to look at Mingi, who just raises his hands in front of him in surrender.

Thank you, Mingi. They can hear the slightest relief in your voice.

I vote ‘no’. Seonghwa’s tone is firm, and you just know he’s crossing his arms in front of his chest right now.

I’m sorry, My Love, but I’m with Hwa on this one. Hongjoong says, and they can all hear you sigh in response.

I do believe it would be good for us to demonstrate our trust in you since you’ve done nothing but both show and speak of your trust in us today. Yeosang sounds like he’s at least trying to reason with his brothers, for your sake. Go have fun with your friend.

I appreciate that, Yeosang, you smile faintly. Thank you.

I’m sorry, Darling, Jongho begins, and he just hates how he can practically see your expression falling in his mind’s eye. I don’t want to leave you alone right now.

It’s also a ‘no’ from me as well, baby. San says gently, even though his tone doesn’t do anything to soften the blow.

You hold your breath. There’s only two more of them left, and if even one of them goes against you, you won’t be able to spend time with your friend. Alone. 

You don’t even realize it, but tears begin to line the corner of your eyes. You thought today was going so well, but then they went and did this. Why can’t they seem to trust you for an hour by yourself with one of your best friends? Was everything they told you a lie just to try and weave their way into your heart and win you over? Do they even know how frustrating this entire situation is right now? To know that you might have to constantly ask them for basic permissions like hanging out with your friends, or hell, even visiting your family drives you insane.

Why are they so adamant on staying with you? Is there something that they’re not telling you?

Of course, all eight men are privy to your thoughts right now, echoing shamelessly through their minds as shame begins to wash over the four that have just voted against letting you spend an hour alone with your friend. None are as remorseful as San and Hongjoong are, though, tears of frustration lining the younger’s eyes now, as well.

Please, don’t cry, Petal. Yunho aches to run to you. To wrap you in his arms and hold you tight, drying all of your tears as he whispers that everything will be okay into your ear. So badly does he want to explain to you that they’ve caught Miyeon’s scent in the mall earlier, and that they’re just being cautious. However, you don’t even know who she is, and they’d much rather keep it that way for now. They don’t want her to hurt you, or worse. They don’t want to lose you. You can still trust them. He just hopes that after this, you still do. Go have fun with your friend. We can find something to do to entertain ourselves for an hour.

You sniff, wiping at your eyes with the back of your hand. Reina sure is taking a long time.

It’s tied, four-four. Jongho observes.

Wooyoung, you’re the deciding vote. Hongjoong turns to the younger male before him.

You can sense the hesitation coming from him, even if you can’t see him, especially given how long he takes to respond. You have a feeling he was leaning towards saying ‘no’ at first, but what you’ve said about trust has made him slowly begin to change his mind.

After all, he doesn’t want to go back to how things were mere weeks ago when you could barely stand to be in the same room as him without feeling extremely uncomfortable.

It is then that the idea strikes you, though you can’t believe you’re about to use it for this.

Hey, Wooyoung, you don’t even need to see them to know that you’ve caught all of their attention. Do me a favour?

The sudden inhale is sharp, causing his seven other brothers to look at him in mild confusion. None of them know about that bet you two wagered on about a week ago, and what your words truly mean.

Wooyoung sighs. Go have fun with your friend.

Immediately, relief is washing over you. A smile tugs at your features as you dry the rest of your tears for the moment, glancing up at your reflection in the mirror.

Thank you! You cheer.

Just, Hongjoong sighs, be careful, okay?

Of course. You’re all one call away, anyways. You reply, fixing your slightly disheveled appearance for the moment. Oh, and Seonghwa?

Yes, My Divine? He’s quick to respond, a hint of uncertainty in his voice as he can feel your emotions radiating outwards from your mind.

Your eyes flash as you catch your gaze in the mirror, pure fury reflected on your features for the moment which you know he can feel through your thoughts. Don’t you ever fucking speak to me like that again.

The appearance of your void is like the harsh slamming of steel doors in all of their faces. It happens so quickly, that they practically all flinch in response.

I think we’ve just royal fucked up. Jongho voices as they all begin to disperse around the mall before you come back out of the washroom with your friend to see them all still standing there.

You think? San nearly huffs, shaking his head as he and Wooyoung walk back down the hallway together.

She’s right, though. About the trust. Yunho replies, Yeosang humming along in agreement as they both head back to that game store for the moment.

I know she is, Hongjoong sighs, keeping pace with Seonghwa who wears a somewhat remorseful expression as they make their way to one store in particular.

They all know how he’s feeling right now, his emotions of shame projecting themselves throughout their heads at the way he spoke to you. You’re right. He should have never spoken to you that way in the first place. He just couldn’t help but be consumed by worry for the moment. That, and the fact that today had been going so well, he didn’t want to spend a moment of it apart from you. Especially not after what they came home to last night.

She’ll contact us if she needs us, Mingi reasons as he enters a home decor store. We’re always monitoring her thoughts, anyways, while in the same vicinity. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.

That’s true. Wooyoung hums. Just keep your eyes open for Miyeon.

If she tries anything, she’s dead. Yeosang snaps, a rumble building in his chest at the potential threat to you. A sentiment of which they all share.

A brief moment of silence passes by.

How long has it been? San asks.

Not even three minutes. Jongho replies with a deep sigh, receiving groans from all of them in response.

This is going to be a long hour.

Meanwhile, you begin to walk around the mall with Reina falling into step beside you. Smiles are on both of your faces as you start to catch up on all that you’ve missed. Though, you still cannot get what just transpired with her back in the washroom out of your mind.

You had been looking at your phone to pass the time while waiting for her, caught up in your own thoughts about that stupid argument you had just had with the eight of them. Only, when you looked up to check if she was done, she was standing right in front of you. 

You, of course, startled at that, only for her to ask you what’s wrong and subsequently tell you that she had been trying to grab your attention for the past three minutes.

Funny, considering you’ve been glancing up every few seconds to see the door to the stall she had entered still closed and locked.

Either way, you’re just glad to be spending some time with her now.

“What brings you to the mall today?” She inquires casually.

“Doing some shopping,” you reply, and at the way she gives you a once over, noting the lack of bags in your hands, she quirks a brow. “I just have one other place to go to.”

“Where do you need to go?” She shifts her gaze forwards once more.

Conveniently, you point at the store directly ahead of you both on the corner of one of the sections.

“Oh, damn,” her mouth drops. “Me too!”

Which is exactly how you find yourself looking through bras and panties with your best friend within the next five minutes.

“Oh, this would look so cute on you!” She says, holding up a lace singlet in a deep maroon.

“Reina!” A heat rushes to your cheeks as you snatch the item from her hands. “I hate how you’re right.”

“Always,” she giggles, grinning mischievously. “I know you said you just need a few basics for the moment, but don’t you want to get a few sets? You deserve to feel sexy, too.”

You nod softly along with her words, contemplating for the moment. The original retort of not having anyone to wear them for dies in your throat as you envision those coloured strings in your mind once more. Then, you’re nearly scoffing to yourself. There’s no way in hell you’re buying lingerie for them. If anything, you’ll buy it for yourself.

Reina’s right. You deserve to feel sexy. You deserve to feel beautiful.

Which is exactly how you find yourself holding a full bag of new sets, as well as a few other items tucked away in your haul as you exit the store. Even Reina splurged a little, carrying two bags of her own, claiming the exact same as you.

“So,” you begin as you start to walk down the aisle of the mall once more side by side, “tell me about your new girlfriend!”

“Well, she’s really pretty,” Reina begins immediately. “Kind of stubborn, but really smart. She makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”

“Yeah?” You smile softly at your best friend. “That’s good, I’m glad. I’m happy for you!”

“Thank you!” She replies. “I really want you to meet her, so when she gets here I’ll introduce you to her.”

“That sounds lovely!” You reply, mirroring her excited grin. “How did the two of you meet?”

Reina is unusually silent for a moment as her brow furrows. A fact which only makes you tilt your head at her in slight worry.

For as long as you’ve known Reina, she’s always had a perfect memory. A fact which she never fails to remind you of, much to your frustration at times. She’s one of the brightest and nicest people you know, always so open and understanding, especially to new people and discussions. Which is exactly why when she hesitates for as long as she does, you frown.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.” You’ve never known her to keep secrets. At least, not from you.

“No, no,” she shakes her head as if to clear her thoughts in the next moment. “It’s not that, sorry. We met on the train.”

“The train, huh?” You quirk a brow teasingly at her, expecting her to elaborate. Only, she doesn’t. “What’s her name?”

“Oh, her name is Mimi.” She replies almost instantly.

“She sounds cute!” You reply, and you notice her shoot you a look out of the corner of her eyes. One which you’ve never seen from her before as her eyes reflect nothing but darkness swirling within. 

Your heart skips a beat. You’re probably just imagining things because of how long you’ve spent being cooped up in that house with those eight demonic presences of yours. It’s probably just your mind projecting what you’ve become so used to from them onto her.

“I bet you guys go very well together,” you add after noticing she remains silent.

A hum is all the response you get.

“What does she look like?”

“You’ll see.” Reina replies lowly, and you can only blink at her in response. Then, as if her whole demeanour is flipping back into the person you know and love, she turns to smile at you. “Have you read the new Jujutsu Kaisen chapters?”

“Uh,” you swallow the building dryness in your throat, before shaking your head, “no. No, I haven’t had a chance to read the updates in a while.”

“Girl, what are you doing? I thought you’d be all over that shit!” She jeers, nudging your side playfully.

“What do you mean?” You tilt your head curiously at her.

“He’s back.” She grins wolfishly at you.

“Who’s back- oh. Oh!” Your eyes widen significantly, immediately turning to her as she faces you, your hands coming up to grasp suddenly onto her arms as you both come to a stop in the middle of the hall. A wild gleam is in your eyes. “You better not be fucking with me right now.”

“Why would I fuck with you about Sukuna? I know how much you like him.” She quirks a brow expectantly at you.

“Holy shit!” You let out a squeal of excitement, shaking her slightly in your grip. “He’s back!”

Instantly, you’re letting her go, her hand finding purchase in your own as you begin to skip down the hallway while swinging your intertwined hands between you two. She can only chuckle as she matches your pace, but walking for the moment instead of skipping.

“You know what he’s been called now?” She glances at you briefly as you turn to look at her eagerly. “The disgraced one.”

“Fuck-“ A shudder runs up your spine, and you take a moment to revel in the fact that being able to react in such a way without being surrounded by eight highly jealous men is so freeing. 

“You’re just thinking about him, now, aren’t you?” She teases, a knowing chuckle falling from her lips.

“I’m just thinking about him, I’m just thinking about him, I’m just thinking about him.” Each time that phrase leaves your lips, you shrug your shoulders slightly, as if it’s no big deal.

Reina cannot help the boisterous laugh that escapes her lips. “Someone sounds deprived.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” you turn to her, a wild look in your eyes as she laughs some more.

The two of you continue like this for some time, finding a place to sit at one of the entrances where she’s supposed to meet her girlfriend soon. Before you know it, the hour has almost passed, and you find yourself almost deflating at the thought of having to leave her so soon.

“Do you ever think about that time-” Reina begins, her voice pulling you out of your own thoughts for the moment. “Do you ever think about that time when we read from that summoning book?”

Your eyes widen, caught off guard by her sudden question. Your heart begins racing in your chest.

“You mean when you read from that book?” You tease, hoping to ease the sudden tension in your body by making a joke out of it.

“Yeah, yeah,” she waves you off, a slight puff of laughter escaping her, “whatever.”

“To be honest, I haven’t thought about it in a while,” you reply, the white lie tasting bitter on your lips. “Have you?”

“I think about it all the time,” she replies with a long exhale, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “I still don’t know how you were so calm about it. There was clearly something going on. I clearly summoned something.”

You nearly purse your lips, becoming severely uncomfortable with this new topic of conversation. She’s never brought it up before. In fact, it was almost as if the subject was one neither of you wanted to bring up or acknowledge again, especially after it had happened. Which is why you find it so strange that she’s bringing it up now.

Maybe you’re just being paranoid.

“You were scared, and I wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to you.” Comes your honest reply. “You know I’ll always protect the ones I care about most.”

“I know.” She turns to smile at you, but the way her lips tug upwards in the corners unsettles you. She looks as if you’ve just told her a piece of information which has condemned you in some way.

You blink, and it’s gone, Reina’s all too familiar soft smile painting her features.

“Well, Mimi should be here any minute now! I can’t wait for you to meet her.” She squeezes your hand happily, a giddy look in her eyes as she looks around the area.

Then, her entire face is lighting up as she spots whom you can only assume is her girlfriend. In a flash, Reina is quick to her feet, dragging you along as the girl in question calls out your friend’s name in greeting.

“Mimi, this is my best friend,” Reina introduces you with a proud smile on her face. Then, she’s turning to face you. “This is Mimi.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Mimi,” you say, a gentle smile adorning your features as you extend your hand out for her to shake.

“Oh, please, I’m a hugger!” She replies, an eager grin stretching across her lips as she pulls you into her arms. Then, whispering lowly right by your ear, “call me Miyeon.”

A shiver runs down your spine as she pulls away from you, and you swear you feel an unpleasant jolt run through your entire body, almost as if your back has just been scratched harshly in the most unpleasant way. Only, when you send her a polite smile back as she holds you at arm’s length, the feeling is gone as soon as it comes.

Something brushes against you void.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” Miyeon continues, finally pulling her lingering touch away from you. That same unnerving grin that you could have sworn you saw on Reina’s face earlier pulls at Miyeon’s lips now. “I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

“All good things, I hope,” you chuckle, somewhat nervously. You really don’t like the way she’s looking at you, yet Reina seems not to notice. In fact, it’s almost as if your best friend has gone blank, her eyes appearing vacant when you turn to look at her.

“Of course,” she practically purrs, looping her arm around Reina’s waist.

There’s an unease that settles over you the longer that you stare at this picture, but you can’t quite place your finger on it. You scratch the back of you head, feeling a sudden itch spring up in one spot as something brushes against your void once more.

“Well, I should get going. I don’t want to keep you two from your date.” You say, even if you have some mixed feelings currently about leaving Reina alone with Miyeon for some reason unknown to you.

“No, please,” something in Miyeon’s eyes flash, but it’s gone as soon as it comes, “stay.”

Only, the call of your name from behind you draws your attention.

Instantly, you feel an arm around your waist pulling you back a step and into someone’s side. 

Turning your head, you see Yeosang standing to your right, the other seven males flanking you on either side. They no longer seem to be holding any of your bags, so you figure they must have already dropped them back at home for the moment. Though, what you do fail to notice is how all of their sudden harsh gazes seem to be fixated on Miyeon in front of you, snarls pulling at San’s, Seonghwa’s, Wooyoung’s, and Hongjoong’s lips.

“We’re leaving-“ 

Yeosang doesn’t even have a chance to finish his sentence, for it’s as if Reina has come back to life in that moment, a gasp escaping her lips as her eyes shine. “You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend!”

“Uh, well-“

Then, it’s as if her entire demeanour is shifting once more, an irritated look crossing her features. “Finally settled down with a man, huh?”

You blink, caught off guard by her comment as your brow furrows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I always knew it was just a phase,” she scoffs.

“Reina, what are you saying?” You look at her in bewilderment. You don’t even recognize your best friend standing before you anymore.

“Were you ever really in to girls?” The way her lips curl in disgust at you has you physically recoiling.

You’re so focussed on Reina in front of you, that you fail to see the way Miyeon’s face alights with a twisted sense of glee when your own expression falls. However, the eight males standing beside you notice.

Bold move, showing your face in front of us like this. San comments, ready and willing to strike at a moment’s notice.

You do anything to me, and I’ll shred right through her best friend’s mind in a second. Miyeon grins, noting the crazed gleam in both Hongjoong’s and Seonghwa’s eyes.

Before any of them can react, the sound of you taking a deep breath in draws their attention.

“I’m glad we could catch up, Rei,” you steel your nerves for the time being, surprising the female demon across from you. “Enjoy your time with your girlfriend.”

With a final nod, and a tight smile to Miyeon in acknowledgement, you’re turning around and walking away, much to her displeasure. She was hoping to toy with you some more before you left, especially before they showed up.

The eight males don’t even spare Miyeon another glance as they begin walking back to the same entrance you all arrived at today. Yeosang still has his arm wrapped securely around you, Yunho’s one hand coming to settle on your upper back as they guide you safely out of the mall.

A fury ignites behind each of their eyes, but none blaze as intensely as Seonghwa’s own. He knew he shouldn’t have let you go alone. They all knew Miyeon would have shown up sooner or later. They’re just upset that they couldn’t protect you; angry at themselves for letting her slip through the cracks like this. They cannot attack her in public with so many human witnesses, and besides, they do not want to subject you to that type of violence.

They knew something was wrong when you didn’t meet them where you said you would after the hour had passed. You weren’t the type of person to be petty and show up after the fact just to spite them. Still, they gave it a few minutes just in case you lost track of time, brushing against your void to check up on you. Only, when they got no response, even when they did it again after five minutes, they panicked.

It took them less than thirty seconds to find you and be at your side, and it’s a good thing they did, too. Who knows what Miyeon could have done to you if they hadn’t showed up.

Wooyoung, Yunho, Seonghwa, and Hongjoong all nearly lose it when they feel Miyeon attempt to spear your mind as you all walk away. Though, none of them are as furious as Yeosang this very moment.

“I seem to have forgotten something, Dearest,” he says, sounding much calmer than he is at the moment so as not to alert you that something’s wrong. “I’ll catch up with you all back at home.”

“Okay,” your voice is soft, heavy with the emotions you’re attempting to hold back, keeping them from breaking through this very moment.

A little reluctantly, he steps away from you, the ghost of his touch lingering on your back as San steps up to take his place. 

Yeosang watches as you all disappear around the corner, his brothers all encouraging him to tear Miyeon apart in the most vicious and violent ways that he knows how. A fact of which he does not need to be told twice, as his soul begins to call for blood. 

Slowly, he turns around, cracking his neck and flexing the fingers on his hands as his nails sharpen into claws.

By the time he’s done with Miyeon, there will be nothing left.

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

Next part of the hand saga!

Prev, Next

@daboyau

@phoebepheebsphibs

@littlemissartemisia

@that0n3shr00mi3guy

“Answer our other questions first! I don’t trust you after everything you’ve done! After everything you’ve caused! You….you helped kill my brother!” Donnie screeches, hand on his tech bō shaking so badly out of anger he worries he might break it.

“I never meant for you to be harmed this way. You won’t believe me when I say it, but none of this was born from malice. I haven’t spoken until now because there was no need to. As for why I’ve been tormenting you….it’s for a reason you are not going to easily accept.”

“Just say it already!” Leon insists.

“I did it because I was asked to.”

Raph nearly hits the hand with his fist, just barely hitting the ground next to it.

“You think we asked for this!?”

“No. You didn’t. Someone else did.“

“Who!? Who would ask for this to happen to us!? To everyone else!?” Donnie asks.

“To put it simply, the people who made you.”

“W-We don’t even know our original parents….” Mikey comments.

“No, not just you. Your entire world. Everyone in this competition is formed from a collection of ideas from an author or authors. These authors gave you the titles you go by. They sent you here to compete. To meet other characters in their own stories. To promote their own stories. That’s how this started. No Fun in Fungus, they simply sent an “ask” of mushrooms, spores. Then your author wanted more, one for each of you.”

“What possible reason could there be for doing this to us!?” Donnie grits his teeth.

“To give more to your story. To bring you all closer together. I too was created in this way, for this purpose. I have merely been a tool to different beings. It may sound ridiculous, maybe even insensitive, tragic, but you should consider what you have gotten. What you’ve learned. When Karai was brought here, you were even told not to think too hard about such a concept.”

Each of the brothers want to make the argument that it’s crazy, but they do in fact remember what the competition mod said to them.

“Even Misa giving you those flowers was an ask sent by an author. These asks…..they were all in good fun. Hurting you was just to make comfort all the better. You were never supposed to die. You were never even supposed to be seriously injured. I just enjoyed seeing all the stories coming from the spores so much. It’s gone too far. It’s why I want to help now, before someone is killed in a way they can’t come back from. No Fun in Fungus was already over, they were supposed to rest. You all still have a lot of story left to tell, it’s not supposed to end here.”

The four of them take in this crazy amount of information they’ve just been told. Can they really trust the hand after all they’ve been through?

“What can you even do to help?” Leon questions angrily.

“The spores are not the only item I possess, as you know. I am intertwined into your and No Fun in Fungus’ storylines. For that reason, I am able to bring out what is called a plot device.” The hand moves to the side, revealing TNT charges connected to an empty base.

“There’s nothing in there.” Donnies says dryly.

“Sometimes plot devices are there to urge the story forward in different ways. In order for this to work, I need mystic energy from each of you. That may be difficult for Michelangelo in his current state, perhaps I could find another one-“

“Mikey, my brother I love so much, I did not bring you back from the dead for you to kill yourself again. Lay. Down.” Leon threatens.

Mikey lays back down.

“It does not have to be him. Because of your being separated at first, you haven’t had the chance to completely understand ninpo. It seems only Mikey truly has.” The hand explains.

“You mean the sacrificial martyrs? Why would we want to know about them? Mikey’s been doing that way too much already!” Leon complains.

“Hamato have sacrificed themselves numerous times, that is true. You’ve seen it be true. Ninpo isn’t inherently about dying for a cause. It’s just how it’s been used a lot, considered the only way. It also has been used to save. Out of love. You’ve seen that too. Ninpo is about the connection to your family. That’s why Donatello was able to use it. That’s why Mikey woke up and used it. When you’re about to lose who you hold dear, your connection strengthens more than ever.”

DvD glances at Mikey. They stare at each other for a second or two. It’s true that they’ve been through an experience nobody else could, or should, truly replicate.

Maybe DvD sort of understands why the NFIF group are the way they are. Obviously he knows how it feels to want to protect his brothers after almost losing them, but what he’s learning is why they’re so willing to throw away their lives even for people who just look vaguely like family.

It’s so much easier to experience pain than to experience someone you love going through pain.

It’s a sentiment he wouldn’t have even considered before everything they’ve been through. Something Draxum never would have let him ponder.

He loves his family.

It’s messed up, they lost years of being able to know each other, there was so much distrust, and things aren’t even close to perfect right now.

But this is his family.

Even April, who has zero blood relation to them but still went through all this just to help.

Misa, who’s yearned for family and takes the role of an elder sibling because she wants to take care of others despite her young age.

Karai, who is related to them but wasn’t originally even supposed to know them if her mission had succeeded.

Something he’d protect with his life.

The hand brings the container closer. DvD looks back at it and hesitantly puts his hand on it. A purple, glowy, shiny substance pours inside. He takes it back after a moment, feeling like he was drained a little bit, but otherwise fine.

Raph and Leo look down at it in surprise before the latter takes on more of a bitter expression.

“I’m the one who took care of Mikey. I protected him. I did my best every single day for years to feed him, clothe him, give him what he needs. I was there for him longer than any of you. Why don’t I have powers like him and Donnie? Are….are they closer….than we are?” Leon frowns deeply.

“No! Leo, I love you just as much! I promise! That’s not how it is-!” Mikey voice cracks from how raw his throat still is.

Raph gently rubs his shell.

“He’s right. Connection to family doesn’t mean how much you love them, but how you think about yourself in relation to them. Insecurity about your place in it.” The hand stares.

Leo feels all eyes on him and starts messing with the material on his pants to avoid addressing what was just said.

“Welp, no insecurity here. Must be something else.”

“The fate of the multiverse might be in danger at this point, you’re going to avoid talking about what we already practically know? Why you left Mikey before-“

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Leo yells, interrupting.

He holds onto Mikey tighter.

Mikey presses his cheek against Leo’s and nuzzles into it as much as possible.

“I….I haven’t….gotten over anything. When I got spored, it reminded me of everything I’m afraid of. I….I…..still can’t accept that any of you love me! I-It’s hard work to even like me, loving me? I-Impossible! Nobody actually does! I-I made Mikey feel like he has to be loyal to me because I took him in. I forced him to never leave me and then I left him! And then he forgave me because he’s so nice and lovable! He’s a pretty painted picture but I’m just a bunch of shredded pieces that I can’t tape back together! Why can’t someone just finally sweep it all up into the trash!?” Leo sobs.

Raph, Donnie and Mikey’s jaws all drop. They’ve been aware of just how hard it’s been for Leo to understand that he’s wanted, a real, true part of the family. What they didn’t know is just how lowly he really thinks of himself.

Leo sniffles.

“I’m cursed. I always have been. Even if I am a part of this family, I shouldn’t be. Look what happened! To Mikey! To gram-gram! To all of you! Not just now, but before too! And you saw what happened to the NFIF guys! Leo helped feed me and Mikey and then he went missing and I just know whatever is happening in that room to him is awful! NFIF Raph held me and tried to protect me and he’s still back there too! You’re all going to get hurt or die or worse with me around! I-I should be alone, I should at least be punished for everything I’ve-!”

DvD, surprisingly, is the one who pulls Leo into as tight of a hug as he can manage without hurting him.

“Shut up.”

“Wh-What? Is….is this supposed to make me feel better or are you angry?”

“Both! The only person who thinks you’re not worth anything is you! How dare you say that I don’t care about you!? I do! You should care about you too! You want to stop being a burden!? Then don’t make us live without you! If you weren’t here, Mikey would be dead right now. If he hadn’t wanted to be with you and didn’t leave those families, we wouldn’t have this family. We wouldn’t have found each other. Give yourself more credit.”

Leo goes back to hiccuping sobs as he buries his face in DvD’s shoulder.

Mikey starts crying as well, despite how much he’s already been doing.

“I-I’ll rip up my picture a-and we can make one up ourselves! I-I can give you tape! J-Just please, d-don’t go again! I-I love you so much!”

Leo pulls him more into the hug, they wet each other’s faces with their tears.

Raph wraps around them all.

“You told that other me before about how you know he’s not a bad guy. How we’ve all made mistakes. You should give yourself the same benefit of the doubt. You aren’t cursed, bad things……just happen. A lot. What was going to happen to the NFIF guys would have without meeting you. But now because they met us, we can help them. There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not glad you’re in the family, Leo. I love that I know you. I love you.” He rest his chin on top of Leo’s head.

Leo and Mikey keep crying until they’ve finally calmed down.

The hand once again offers the container towards Leo.

“How….do I do it?”

“Think of your family as a something within you, and release it. Raphael, you as well.” The hand urges.

“What? Me? But didn’t have any breakthrough or anything…..”

“Right now is the moment you feel closest to your family. It may also help to remember who is not here, and wanting to get her back.”

Leo and Raph nod, both placing their hands on the container. Red and blue pours in before the hand takes it away.

“Where…..are you going to find a replacement for me?” Mikey brings up.

April suddenly bursts inside the room.

“You guys! He took Misa!”

April had kept walking until they could no long hear Mikey scream. It took everything she had to not go back to help. Misa wanted to go back too, but as grown up as she thinks she is, nobody should be seeing that.

Nobody should be experiencing that.

It’s not like the turtles were adults either. They shouldn’t have to listen to their brother scream and beg for the nightmare to end. It’s something they have to do though because the only good adult they have around has been taken.

It’s painful to not be able to do anything else, but this is incredibly important. Misa needs her right now.

“Is….little big brother….going to be okay?” Misa asks, looking up at her with wide eyes.

“He’s got everyone else with him, they’re going to do whatever he needs them to.” April assures.

Misa looks down.

“I want to help Raphie too.”

April bites them inside of her cheek. Guilt for leaving him is gnawing at her as well. Wasn’t there anything else she could have done? All that guy has being doing this whole competition is trying to protect everyone from the spores.

Who protects him?

“We’re going to, when we have a plan.”

“But….but it’s going to be too late!” Misa whines.

“Hey, we don’t know that. Maybe….maybe the void guys helped out and he’s coming back to us now!” April suggests, vaguely aware it’s probably a huge lie.

Misa pouts until footsteps draw her and April’s attention.

“Raphie!!” Misa shouts excitedly shouts, wriggling out of April’s arms.

“Misa! Wait!” April reaches out too late.

The young girl runs up to NFIF Raph who picks her up. They smile at each other.

“Hey, kid. Glad I found ya. I have something real important I need you to do.”

“How can Misa help?”

“I need to borrow your portal sword.”

Misa gladly hands it to him.

April sees a glowing, blue tear roll down his cheek.

“Misa! Get away from him!”

Misa looks at her in confusion before seeing Raph’s eyes fill with blue. She begins grabbing at her sword but he keeps it out of her reach. He then holds her tight, close to his plastron and tucked under his arm.

Raph’s smile falls. The glowing tears fall freely down his cheeks with no signs of stopping. He looks over at April with a sorrowful expression.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise. I really tried. I just….there’s no reason for me to fight anymore. My family is all back there. Even if I did fight, everything I do fails.”

“Raph! That’s not true! Fight it, we can save your brothers together! You don’t have to do this!”

“No, doing this is the only way he won’t hurt Misa. It had to be me. All we need is the sword and to use her as bait. She’ll be okay. I’d promise, but….my promises don’t mean much…..” He opens a portal.

“No! Raph! Misa!” April poofs to get close, but ends up falling on top of nothing after the portal disappears.

“Where did he take her!? Back to that room!? Are they sporing her again!? She can’t survive that! Mikey didn’t!” DvD panics.

“Hold on, what do you mean he didn’t-WHY IS THE HAND HERE!? IS THAT TNT!?” April points.

“Be not afraid-“

“IT TALKS!?”

UIFY Raph explains what happened. April feels like her feet are stuck to the floor. It’s only been 15 minutes and things somehow turned even more disastrous.

“H-How are we going get more ninpo!? That could kill Mikey again!”

“It can come from you-“ The hand starts.

April slams her hand onto the container.

“I want to save them! Please work! Do your magic thingy!”

Shockingly, it does work. Green pours into the container and the colors all being swirling with each other. They glow even brighter.

“This should be enough. I can set up the charge behind the wall that houses the main mushroom.”

“Wait, won’t that hurt the other me?” Leo brings up.

“He’s survived worse.”

“That’s not a good reason!”

“He’ll be alive and the spores will be gone. Is that not what you want?”

“It is, but-!”

The lights suddenly shut off.

DvD quickly turns on the light from his phone.

“Oh what now!?”

“Hello everyone in the competition! It’s your new overlord, Audrey III!” Donnie’s voice calls from a speaker in the room.

Oh no.

DvD quickly searches the room for some medical masks which he puts on and passes out to his brothers and April once they’re found. If he thinks what’s about to happen is really happening, they need protection.

Leo careful puts Mikey’s on for him and then carries him on his back as they all leave the room.

There’s panic and chaos everywhere from the sudden darkness. People are bumping into things and shouting.

The nearby vents start releasing the familiar, sickening spores.

“Don’t resist. Or do, your fear is tastier that way.”

[salarta]

Do you have any fun facts about Lorna?

I mean, fun fact here is dependent on what the focus is meant to be. On the meta side of things:

Second woman to join the X-Men

Started out more feminist than Jean, before later writers and editors screwed her over

One of the first, if not THE first, case of mutants combining powers to do something great (flinging Krakoa into space, after powered up by Storm, Cyclops, and Havok)

Has a history of being the first to do or introduce something interesting, then people at Marvel giving those things to other characters because they seem to think she doesn't deserve them (latest case being X-Men 97 letting Rogue take over all the Genosha genocide storyline while Lorna was completely left out of it)

Has existed since 1968

Didn't get her origin story told until 44 years later, vs Havok getting his told back in the 70s

Didn't get to lead a team as its intended leader until 46 years later (All-New X-Factor) despite having taken on replacement leader roles for decades prior

Despite past stories saying Lorna has the potential to be her father's equal, already was his equal, or surpassed him at various points, and in violation of its own rules, the Krakoa "era" Omega classification said Magneto was an Omega mutant but insisted Lorna wasn't

That's a handful of that kind. But if you want fun facts on the more playful side of things:

Lorna COULD use her powers to use the internet, use pseudo-psychic powers (e.g. telepathy, influencing memory), affecting visual spectrums, put out fires and more. Lots of modern research and applications for her powers that go beyond flinging metal around.

We've never seen Lorna's adoptive parents, the Danes, and the only direct thing we know about them is that they adopted her after her mom and stepfather died. Though you do have to wonder why Lorna would feel the need to hide her green hair prior to learning she's a mutant, and why she never put two and two together that it must mean she's a mutant.

There was a short what if strip at one point that basically suggested that if Lorna had been on the space ship that had been the impetus for Jean connecting with the Phoenix Force, she could have guided the ship from the inside and the whole Dark Phoenix saga could've been avoided.

Lorna very briefly had a red and gold uniform that got nixed because of real world attitudes that it was "too showy" for her. Think the uproar over Sue Storm having that Fantastic Four costume with the 4 boob window, but even tamer.

Fantastic Force in the late 00s presented an AU far future descendant of Lorna named Psionics, which was the first occasion of seeing a character based on her genetics.

There's a lot of in the gaps headcanon stuff out there for various periods and depictions. Like, one I've thrown out is that perhaps the godawful panels of Lorna afraid of Sabretooth and wishing Havok would save her could be explained as Malice already possessing her and being an asshole by pretending to be Lorna while acting that way. Or that perhaps some of her actions like getting with Havok happened because Xavier used his powers to put them together out of fear that she would otherwise become like Magneto.

If you're new to Lorna, you should know the coffee thing is entirely new. It started with Duggan writing her on X-Men after she won the X-Men vote, and while it's a fun quirk, sadly some writers started to misuse it by making that her whole character instead of exploring meaningful things with her.

Dauterman's said before how Lorna's energy hair in Dark Seduction partially inspired Scarlet Witch's hair for the Hellfire Gala.

To my knowledge, Lorna was the first character to utter the now famous words "Magneto Was Right" within a flashback to the Genoshan genocide.

There's some debate as to whether or not Lorna was the first character to have a secondary mutation, which tends to be attributed to other characters. This is based on when Zaladane stole her powers, and she ended up with entirely different ones. For my money's worth, I don't think of those powers as actually Lorna's. I headcanon that they were powers forced on Lorna by Zaladane to hurt and humiliate her.

Lorna's currently the youngest living child of Magneto.

I can't think of anything else at the moment. I might add to this if I think of more, and I encourage other fans to toss things in too.

[chthonicgodling]

(THE NEXT) ELYSIUM DRAMA UPDATE,

featuring - hey wait GASP a different face in this saga??? Chal!?

[and Libby, & Bel, offscreen;]

[you are: one • two • three • four • five • six • here • eight • nine • ten • eleven • twelve • thirteen • fourteen (the end!) ]

✨Recap! The TaKi Fuego not-throuple, Tory and Loki and Maci, is in shambles after Loki decided to be lovingly knocked up by them before panicking about the situation and disappearing with no warning.

Tory and Maci are in pieces a few rooms down the hall after a disastrous and mean meeting with Loki’s gaggle of children. Meanwhile while they’re sniffling in each other’s arms and pining - Libby, Loki’s adopted daughter, seeks out her own lovely and charming sister for some help, as promised! We know Chal, right? Known for being so lovely and charming?? uh🥴

So why in the (under)WORLD would they need to bring Chal into this and What the hell are “Loki’s pocket voids” ????? WELL LUCKILY I’ve prepared a slide that explains all of that in a quick Elysium context crash course paragraph!! This post is solely an important transition explanation, ‘cause for @fenixethekid [hiatused] and I this stuff is common knowledge but.,, For you, this little audience reading along with this adventure, maybbbb not so much

Crucially let’s catch up to speed before we move on! Got it?! Great! So!

As the only one who can get into this potential EeL hiding spot, here we have Chal and her lovely disposition 🥴🥴, and her husband Bel, designated buffer but Chal’s match made in Heaven— er, Elysium— AND ALSO MINDREADER OF THE PALACE SEEN MOST IMPORTANTLY HERE WITH LOKI MANY YEARS AGO AHEMHEMM

Stay tuned to see what happens next! Will we be following Chal through the voids in a wild shot search for Loki??!! Oh perhaps…….. hm!! [jesus christ once again left wishing i hadnt already liveblogged through this allllll on tumblr already. ahem gosh golly gee just pretend! gee i wonder how this all resolves!

[bomberqueen17]

uhhhhmuhgawhhhh

ok this has been a long fucking month.

i am back in buffalo. i am in my house. i had to find my pillow, which had gotten misfiled. but i have had a slep, i have gotten catsnuggles, i have gotten *cough* we'll call them dudesnuggles. i have awoken. i have made my coffee the way i like it. i am on a couch on my computer and don't have to do anything for at least an hour.

now i can tell to you the Saga of All Of It.

so like ok August was a really rough month. It was just-- busy, and I had been tentatively on a three-weeks-on, one-week-off schedule at the farm, and had thus managed to visit Buffalo like, well once this summer but you know. Anyway the last time I was home I'd spent the entire time helping Dude's mom clear out his aunt's house, so it hadn't exactly been relaxing or let me do any of my own projects, but it had been something. But I got back to the farm and it was go-go-go-go, and then BIL and Farmsister and Farmkid and my mom went on vacation together for a week so I had to watch the house and fill in some farm duties especially dealing with the farmer's market and such, and then they got back and it was a frantic game of catch-up, and then the Livestock Manager got married so he had a week off before and a week after, prearranged but the amount of work was still the same. And it meant that BIL especially was very overworked and was horribly cranky about it and, I'm not gonna tiptoe around it, was real fuckin mean to specifically me for a bunch of it, so that sucked out loud. And in the midst of all of this there were a couple of events where everybody else was invited to a thing and I had to stay home and cover for the absences. And it all kinda piled up and like, I'm a grown ass woman and can handle not being invited to things but it was a lot of things. And I tried, in the middle there, to celebrate my birthday a little bit? but there wasn't a ton of time, I found out Friday afternoon that I'd be able to have Saturday off, so I did scrape together an expedition for myself to a nearby art museum at least but that was the sum total of it, a flying visit from a friend for which I had like four free hours and then had to return to work, and dude visited for the weekend and I got to spend a couple hours looking at art. That was it.

So I was really tired and really done, and this final week BIL was just like outright shitty to me, yelling at me about things that either 1) went against a policy he'd made up earlier, like using a particular method of cleaning on a particular floor drain which he had specifically told me not to do, clearly changed his mind about, and then was furious i hadn't done, but see I wasn't notified of the mind change there so I didn't know? anyway, or 2) were things that I'm not in charge of and I just happened to be the person closest to him when he noticed that something hadn't been done the way he thought it should have specifically been done today even though there would have been reasons at other times to not do it like that, and in fact in this case later it became useful that it had been done as it was, and-- just anyway. It was stuff normally I'd not be so upset about but at the culmination of this extremely thankless-grinding month I was just distraught.

So I got my work done early enough to leave at midday on Friday. And I did, after lunch I did a tiny bit more work but left the farm before 2pm, absolutely giddy at the thought of getting home to Buffalo in time for dinner.

And traffic was annoyingly heavy on 787, but all was fine and doable and not a problem until some jackass decided to cut into the entrance ramp for the 90 at the last possible second and some even bigger jackass decided that the only way to react to this was by theatrically overreacting by coming to a complete fucking stop and so

well i hit the person in front of me, and the person behind me hit me, and the person behind her hit her, and we all pulled off on the side of the road and had to wait for the cops. My hood was crunched shut, and my exhaust system, already having become noisy from part of a pipe rusting through, snapped clean in half.

But nothing was leaking. And nobody was hurt. The lady in the car behind gave me her number and left, because she had dogs in the car who were likely to overheat in the 90F high humidity, and also recently a woman had been killed on the side of this very road in this very situation and she was too afraid to wait. But the ladies in the car ahead were nice and offered me a drink from their cooler and just seemed tired but not mad, and had already called the cops which was great because I had forgotten how to operate my phone in all the kerfuffle.

So we waited for a state trooper to show up-- and notably, he was actually really nice, very reassuring, understanding of how I was also on the phone with my insurance company (also very nice, and I had to have her on the car speaker because the traffic noise was so much i couldn't hear my phone microphone at all, and I was so distracted I kept being like "you want me to what" and then not hearing the answer-- telling her my license plate number was like the most difficult thing for some reason), and he got us to move our cars to a different off-ramp where there was less traffic, and we filled out all the paperwork and stuff and he gave me directions for how to get back to the westbound interstate. He called the lady from the car behind me, for me, and the two of them explained to me that since there was negligible damage I didn't actually have to report that accident if I didn't want to, and so I was like okay fine let's not even bother, since it has to be a whole separate accident report and none of the damage to my car is from that accident. (Not visibly anyway, though I expect it's probably why the exhaust system did what it did-- still though, not likely to be relevant. Even though surely the accident I did report is going to be determined to be my fault, but this second one wouldn't be-- it wouldn't help anything.)

I took off and immediately realized I wasn't going to be able to drive the car as it was, and helpfully a man pulled up next to me at that light and said "your exhaust system is definitely dragging, do you know about it?" and I said wearily "I was just in an accident so thank you for helping me identify what the problem actually is", and went past the on-ramp into the parking lot of a fire hall right there that happened to also be a pokemon gym in my color. I sat for a moment, put a defender in the gym (thanks, random team instinct person, for having taken that gym half an hour previous, that cheered me up a bunch), and then got out of my car, found a work glove I knew I'd thrown in there, crawled under the car a bit, and tucked the muffler pipe up to sit on top of the catalytic converter so it wouldn't drag on the ground. (I don't know that the glove was necessary but I do know exhaust systems get real fuckin hot so i do recommend gloves if handling any of those parts on a car that's been running lately.)

It worked, it held, and I was like well. Car runs. Hood's all cattywumpus but it's definitely not going to fly open because it's literally crimped shut. Already had some front-end damage on this thing from an accident we mutually decided not to report a couple years back-- very minor but the plastic is cracked and the foglight mount damaged. Well now it's proper fucked, so that's fine. I was going to have to find a mechanic to repair the muffler assemblage anyway, it was already loud as fuck, so now it's just done with the polite fiction of being an exhaust system.

So I walked around the car, open and shut all the doors to make sure they still did, and then got in and got onto the Thruway. Fuck this shit, I was not going to drive back to the farm and then have to rely on a bunch of people of whom I'm slightly tired and who are clearly also slightly tired of me to have to ferry my ass around, and miss my extremely extremely necessary week off of work (because you know if I'm there I'm going to fucking do work on the farm, that's how it works, I have no boundaries).

All I wanted was to see a person (and cat) who actually enjoy my company and want to see me.

So I put in earplugs because the noise was not great, and drove 300 miles, and arrived just before dark, and pulled into the driveway and Chita was so surprised to see me that she came right out to me even though i was still sitting in my car. She doesn't like cars, hates them when they're moving and really doesn't like being in them, but she does like to sit under them when they're off.

[image description: a small gray cat with her paws up on the running board of a blue car, peering in the open driver's side door with motion-blurred interest; the foreground is my bare leg and the hem of my dress and my filthy car floor]

So I'm home, and I have already done all the awkward phone calls, and I was expecting I'd need to call the garage my insurance company has set up to do the assessing (that's how my insurance company does it) but the text of it says they'll call me. i still might call them midmorning today to see if they're open. IDK I don't even care what happens now, I'm home and I've had my own coffee and my cat missed me and my dude missed me and i'll just figure the rest out later.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga proves the wasteland has plenty more stories to offer. Is it on the same level as Mad Max: Fury Road? No, but keep in mind that Fury Road is one of the greatest action movies ever made. Even The Road Warrior doesn’t reach its ferocity or pulse-pounding excitement. What this prequel spinoff has are outstanding action scenes, gorgeous cinematography, a rich world you love to explore and loads of memorable characters.

In a post-apocalyptic Australia, Furiosa (played by Alyla Browne as a child and teenager) is taken from her home by the Biker Horde, led by Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Given to Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) in a trade, Furiosa (played by Anya Taylor-Joy as an adult) remains determined to make her way home. To do this, she must make herself useful enough to be trusted with the resources she’ll need to survive the wasteland.

The standout in Furiosa is absolutely Chris Hemsworth as Dementus. We’ve seen evil people in this franchise, but he’s the cruelest and most bug-nuts so far. The thing is, Hemsworth is so charismatic and Dementus is so adept at navigating this world you find yourself admiring the character. Through the story’s five chapters, he’s constantly finding ways to increase his army, resources and influence. The more power he accumulates, the more dangerous he becomes. It’s like he knows he wants to be in charge, but not why, or what to do once he is, which leads to more chaos and destruction. You're never sure if he’s as mad as he seems, or if he’s putting on a show to mock this new world. Maybe it’s that he’s fully embraced the wasteland and wants it to remain as lawless and savage as it is now, so he’s determined to keep tearing it down. Maybe he was always like this but civilization kept him in check. What makes him so dangerous is that beneath the madness, there’s logic and cunning that reminds you of Heath Ledger’s Joker. You're not sure if even Dementus is prepared to deal with Dementus.

We got a pretty good look at this world in Fury Road but the film was constantly putting more distance between the protagonists and the Citadel. Furiosa, by contrast, allows us to sit and see the inner workings. The closeups we get help us understand but they don’t bring any comfort. This is a dreadful world dominated by violence. On the upside, that carnage sure is cinematic. What’s amazing is that we’ve seen vehicular destruction four times from George Miller and he still manages to bring some new ideas to the table. As I was watching our heroine fend off The Octoboss (Goran D. Kleut, playing a character whose name is as ridiculous as it is awesome) and his Mortiflyers, admiring the way it’s shot and the constant back-and-forth as the casualties rise, I suddenly realized how long this battle has been going on. There are few movies doing action on this franchise's level.

You’d think that by being a prequel, much of Furiosa would be predictable but the screenplay by Miller and Nico Lathouris repeatedly uses your expectations to surprise you. You know that Furiosa is, at some point, going to lose her left arm. You know because she wears a mechanical arm in Fury Road and because she’s got a map to her home tattooed on it. Dementus wants that map. We know Furiosa will do anything to keep it out of his hands. Does that mean she will eventually sacrifice her arm to keep it away from him? Is Dementus going to forcibly take it, giving our heroine another reason to seek revenge from him? Will she simply lose it during a violent attack? You don’t know and frequently, you think “This is it!”, only for the picture to prove you wrong.

The always-reliable Anya Taylor-Joy does so much with her character’s limited dialogue and handles the action scenes exceptionally well but if we spend time on her, we won’t have time to talk about the side characters, my favorite of which is Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke). Can he get a spinoff movie too? He's so effortlessly cool. How about the multitude of loonies accompanying Dementus, like that guy with the one eye, or the lady whose face is all messed up? What I love about this film is that it even makes characters out of vehicles. Like, you’ll see this cobbled-together monstrosity and realize you've seen it before. Now, it's got new pieces welded onto it, or a new driver and you can tell that inanimate object has its own story it could tell.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is packed with so much story, worldbuilding, action and memorable scenes you don’t even feel the 148-minute pass by. In fact, when it reached the Chapter Three mark, I thought to myself “Already? We can’t be close to halfway done… not yet!” I can't wait to see it again. (Theatrical version on the big screen, June 4, 2024)

[zaceouiswriting]

Fairy Prince - Hearts of Leviathans - Ch.27

Character: Sky x male reader, Riven x male reader, Brandon x male reader

Universe: Somewhere in Winx Club/Saga

Warnings: None

The room falls into a dead silence, almost as if I were alone, although I could sense one or two presences. Nothing happens for minutes until I can hear Palladium's voice ringing. Inside, I could only smile; maybe he had an answer to my strange state of mind. I've always been strong-willed; nothing could shake me, so why now?

The calm and composed professor's voice grows panicked as he asks about the two orbs. Unfortunately, I can't tell him they are in my bag because I have no control over my body. I had no idea what to do with them. Instead, the other three loudly tear the room apart as they cannot find them. I even hear one of them running out and returning a few moments later.

They fought like I was dying. But I know I'm not. I just don't have control over my body. Something inside me is broken, but I'm sure it's nothing that can't heal with time. As a fairy, time isn't of the essence for me. Maybe this is how I can get out of this stupid forced marriage. Maybe if I tell my family I'm crazy, they'll stop it? But then again. Grandfather won't live much longer, and I can't leave the throne to any of my siblings; most are too young or incompetent to rule even their own needs.

I force myself to calm down and quiet my thoughts. It's not enough to regain full control of my body, but enough to move my hand. Suddenly the whole room is silent again. But I can't fish the spheres out of my pockets. Luckily, a warm and rough hand quickly comes to my aid. My gaze wanders to the side. To my utmost shock, I realize that the person helping me is not Sky, as I assumed, but Riven. When our eyes meet, I think I see him asking for permission, nothing like the psychopath who tortured me in the dungeons. Not wanting to make a fuss, I blink once, hoping he understands my silent sign. A shy smile appears on his thin lips.

I feel his hand gently slide over mine, moving past it until the two spheres are in his hand. But instead of simply taking them out, he also helps my hand out of my pocket and carefully places it next to me.

As soon as his warmth left me, I felt the desire to take his hand growing inside me. But why? This guy is clearly a psychopath who can change his behavior in an instant. But his warmth makes me feel safe. I still remember how it felt with him. When I was with him, I knew that nothing could hurt me, that I was safe, and that I would stay that way as long as I held his hand.

Could I find something like that again? Even though my future was already decided? Could I go against my grandfather?

Suddenly I am torn from my thoughts when I feel a sharp pain shoot through my head, as if a boulder had just hit me. For a moment my vision goes completely black, but when I open my eyes again, my whole body hurts. Four pairs of eyes are staring at me.

“What?” I ask, quite annoyed by all this attention.

"Can you move your fingers for me?"

I do as I'm told, moving my fingers in all directions. As I do, I look around. Although there is a type of relaxation on the guys' faces, Sky seems too happy. It pisses me off. 

Gaining his attention, after staring at him, I raise my other hand and give him the middle finger. His happy face falls as I grin mischievously at him.

“How mean!” the massive guy suddenly mutters, tearing me out of my playful mood.

Before anything else could happen, the professor interjected, “Okay, I see you have your body under control again.” Without saying anything else, he suddenly leaves.

“Wait!” I shout after him, already frustrated. “What happened?”

I see him tensing up. This can't mean anything good.

"You accidentally locked your painful memories of what happened over the last three years in the two spheres. Something must have happened that overwhelmed your mind as if you were forcibly remembering or seeing something. Did you have any hallucinations last night or the night before?“

Confused, I try remembering the nights, but not much comes to mind. Especially not the last night. Searching through the archive of my memories, I suddenly feel something sitting on my head. The feeling makes me frown, unsure of what it could be. But when I look up, I see a little bird sitting right on my forehead, its beak between my eyes. I look at it questioningly, and then suddenly it bumps its beak against my head, slamming down hard until I feel a drop of blood roll down my head.

Out of the blue, I remember the night I thought I was back in a camp, surrounded by everyone I had lost. Before I know it, a tear rolls down my cheek alongside the drop of blood.

The professor must have taken this as confirmation because he quickly sat beside me. "It's rare, but your trauma is so severe that your mind could no longer bear it. To save your sanity, your mind must have seized the opportunity and locked those memories in those spheres. You can transfer them back, but I would advise against it in your current state, as you would probably break under their weight. Until we know why it happened so suddenly, you should refrain from bringing them back into your mind."

“But what would I be without my full memory?”

"I didn't say you shouldn't remember, did I?" His voice sounds a little condescending, but his smile seems more playful. Maybe it's just an elf thing. He holds out my successor ring, which identifies me as the next king of my homeworld, and puts it back on my finger. "I've synchronized the orbs with two jewels on your ring. As long as you wear it, you'll be able to remember everything as normal. For now, think of it as an extension of your mind."

Looking at the ring, the two jewels—two black Orephilas, a type of high-quality jewel-like diamond, only stronger and nearly indestructible—appear to glow darkly, showing the effect of the magic that rests on them.

To my surprise, it wasn't like a flood of memories overwhelming me, as I had imagined, but rather like the shelves in a library being restocked. They were there, but they didn't fill my mind.

As the professor pets my leg, I look up again, and he smiles at me seriously. "If you ever want to talk about what happened in the camp, my door is always open."

While I appreciate his generous offer, I would never talk to anyone about it. There is just too much that would make me look like the monster that I am. I never want anyone to look at me with suspicion or disgust again.

Once again, the professor strolls back to the door. With the handle firmly in his grasp, I call him back again. This time he only turns his head in my direction. "Who put me together with these three?"

With a one-sided grin, the professor looked at the three idiots one by one before looking back at me. "Maybe you should talk to them," he advised.

Is he for real? But when I look over at the three idiots, I see them in varying states of embarrassment, except for Sky, who stares at me with his big, hopeful, brown puppy eyes. I can barely stop myself from wanting to scratch his belly. But before I can do that, I tear my mind away from these thoughts. I raise a hand to my head, cover my eyes, and silently ask myself what I've gotten myself into.

Before I can question the professor further, however, I see he has already gone and the door is closed. This man is quieter than a spy or an assassin. I should stay alert for him. He seems powerful and versatile. Only "the old one" can know what he is capable of.

But it leaves me alone with these three idiots. Honestly, I don't want to hear anything they have to say. So I cling to the edge of the bed with all my strength and stand up as soon as my feet touch the floor. I didn't achieve the desired level of success, which embarrassed me. But when Sky tries to help me, I push his hand away. Even from the corner of my eyes, I could see him visibly saddened.

I swear if he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes again... and there it is again. I quickly avert my gaze, as I am sure that if I look at him directly, I will fall into his trap.

I push past Sky's broad, muscular shoulders and grab my things. "Would it be okay with you guys if I find another room?"

Almost immediately after asking, you would have thought I had cursed their mothers; they were vehemently against it. Stunned by their refusal, I grab a change of clothes, walk to the other side of the four beds, and touch the wall. Almost immediately, another door appears, leading to a well-equipped bathroom.

“How long has that been there?” I hear Brandon ask.

“We have a bathroom?” And that was unmistakably Riven.

"I have a bathroom. You can piss in a corner if you like." I slam the door while ignoring the protests and quickly get ready.

Returning to the bedroom, I see the three idiots sitting on their beds as if they wanted to tell me the story about the bees. When they see me, they start to talk, but I interrupt them with a simple wave.

“Do you want us all to be on the same level or each our own?”

I watch as the three of them look at each other in confusion, but they still discuss my question without asking what it is about. Before I knew it, everyone agreed on something I didn't like at all, but since I asked for it, all I could do was shrug my shoulders and put my hand back on the wall. The stones start moving, expanding the space further than should be possible. The large room that previously housed all four beds becomes the living room, with a table, several sofas, a TV, and even video games, with a large, curved window front. Four new doors appear, two on either side between the glass front and the room door.

“Who wants to pair with whom?”

"Sky and me!" Brandon almost shouts in my face. Looking at them suspiciously, I squint my eyes at them. They've been acting strange the whole time, but I still nod slowly.

"Well then, it looks like we're stuck together," I tell Riven, quite dissatisfied, but he seems strangely happy. Ignoring his strange looks, I put down all the things they had brought with them. "Although they look like they're single rooms, they're doubles; the doors are just to make it easier to get to one side and to indicate where the other's room is."

I can see the eagerness in their eyes. They want to explore these spaces. But I've already seen the time. Instead of letting them do whatever they want, I throw them out with the help of the building.

A few seconds later, I join them outside the room. "Sorry, guys, but it's time for class." They groan in such impressive sync that it makes me a little uncomfortable, but I let it slide anyway. Seeing them annoyed is enough happiness for me.

Something flies towards me out of nowhere; even from a distance, I can see it's a piece of paper. I pull it out of the air, and the first thing I read is the professor's name, then an apology, and right below it, my class schedule and room numbers. At least now I know where to go, right?“

At least one person is useful in this worthless place everyone believes is the epitome of education.

[Masterlist]

[dislyteshack]

Rambling

Originally I did not know what to do with my Odysseus esper but after listening to some epic the musical songs I have some really cool ideas

Basically like he hasn't technically seen his family in 10 years but that's only because he was in the union all this time but then

Starting from 2027 he's like unironically missing

And also for context I have his son as an esper of Patroclus

Tldr

Achilles esper event: Adrian helping his boyfriend track down his dad

Also I like to think that they end up metaphorically encountering some events that are inspired by obstacles in The Odyssey

It's going to be very very very very loosely based

I am including certain espers with patrons like Scylla calypso and what not and they are going to be a few new OCS

Some of them non esper but representing Odyssey characters

Some of them existing espers who might not be in the same mythology but they do serve a purpose

Oh epic the musical we're really in for it now

I know technically it means the event technically focuses more on relationships other than Adrian himself but like he's kind of like the glue starting it and moving stuff forward

And there is in fact a personal character arc for him in there

I'm going to be putting a bunch of four stars in this event

I imagine some of the events happened to Peter and it would be Adrian and Orion walking in on the aftermath

While some of the loose events would happen to the boys directly

It's probably going to be like an odyssey Saga where the characters kind of move back and forth between the worlds but it's held together by the story

So there's going to be an event for

Adrian (Achilles)

Orion (Patroclus)

And Peter (Odysseus) to tie it all together

Although I am a little torn as to whether I should put Orion first or Adrian

Because technically you can count them as both protagonists because they're the ones following the trail that was left behind by peter

Peter can also be counted as a protagonist but I'm having parts of his perspective obscured until his event

Supporting characters include dahlia, Meredith, a little cameo from leora or David maybe

I was almost thinking about Arcana making an appearance but no one will probably need to give me propaganda for that dude to make me consider

Biodina has a partial role that shares loose similarities to Poseidon's actions but it's more impersonal

If anything she would be acting on behalf of a client or someone who had accompanied Peter on his personal project that caused him to disappear but then they disappeared too

I think you can tell I have kind of been listening to epic the musical because this is why I have so many thoughts on this

I Def am planning on Peter having certain espers as temporary traveling companions

For the prophet who ends up giving the prophecy on one hand I could take a certain canon character who is already predisposed to seeing the future but on the other hand it would not be wrong for me to make an entire OC

But also dont I want to go through the effort?

Because they effectively share the same purpose of saying a prophecy

And also I think the problem I have the most is that like I already have arcs planned out for Orion + peter

It's mostly me figuring out stuff for Adrian

All right I did figure out a reason for the disappearance

Basically I kind of engineered my own ocean monument where I imagine there's like a bunch of Raya shit in there and then initially Peter owed a favor to someone and they decided to cash in on that favor so that he investigates the archeology site for him but then after that stuff starts going wrong when he decides to turn around and go home after they got everything

[the-muppet-watch]

The rot cult

This is just a post archiving what i find on the rot cult the muppet joker (called Kermit throughout this) moved in with

The four "members"/ people who live in what I'm calling "the rot house" are: Athena (the leader of the cult), Sage (the first member), Milton (the second member), and of course Kermit (the clown prince of crime himself).

From Sage and Miltons blogs it is confirmed that they are siblings. Milton states that him and Sage met in a hospital, and that his parents are dead. Sage states that "Our parents aren't dead" and called meeting in the hospital is "a weird way to phrase it" (Im not directly looking at the posts so these aren't word for word).

Sage does state that he met Athena on deviantart. Milton moved in later after being kicked out of/ left their cousins house who he was staying with after his parents kicked him out. Milton, however, is extremely vague when posting so it is hard to tell what he truly means in some situations. It also seems he is deep into the cult due to claiming that he "needs to be punished" and claiming that it isn't a cult or an abusive situation.

The sleeping arrangements goes as follows: Athena gets the only bed with four out of six of the blankets (the other two are earned by the top two members of the house). Kermit sleeps under Athenas bed and has conformed the blanket arrangements on his first night there. Sage sleeps on the couch but has proved that the sleeping arrangements can switch when Athena has been made upset, proven by when Milton got the couch after Sage broke something of Athenas. Milton sleeps in the closet which "The Rot" has been stored.

On one of Kermits blog posts he posted an image of a glass with what looked like it had left over blood in it. he later found what could be blood vials. Milton has responded to asks questioning him if he was anemic do to him posting about him being extremely woozy at times, and Athena has posted responding to an ask saying "Milton > Sage" to which she responded "Only in the terms of blood flavor" (around the 25 july 2024). She has many posts about being a vampire and has even banned Italian food from the home due to it having many recipes that include garlic.

A reddit post was posted by a neighbor titled "WIBTA if i told property management about my smelly neighbors?" where I will post about more in depth later but for now I am just using it for some basic information. Using this post we can definitively know it is an apartment due to the update claiming "The bad news is that the smell is now coming through the vents, and we had to turn off the ac to air out the apartment." the op also states "This usually isn't a problem, but in recent weeks I've noticed the smell of death coming from their door and a fly problem which is slowly becoming a me problem at my place of residence." He goes into some detail on their Tumblr accounts after Athena which he calls A gives hers, Sage's and Milton's accounts to him and inviting him to join the coven.

The reddit post and the Kermit plush rescue arc has also brought to mosts attention that Sage is the only one with a car. Kermit asked Sage to drive him to his moms house believing to have left him there and was planning a break in. he was unaware that Sage didn't have any obligation to drive him back as stated in the house rules Kermit seemed to be unaware of at the time and had to walk back kermitless. Milton has also claimed multiple times that even though they have an etsy shop they do not get the money do to Sage managing thee money.

This part of what I am calling "The Rot Saga" seems to be heating up with Kermit learning that the Kermit plushie was put in the rot for days on end and from what i can see from the blogs from when I am typing this, has most likely to have been burned. Kermit has stated he has stabbed Gerard Way out of Athenas body and I'll wait for more info before writing about any of it.

I also want to add in a theory that the black mold found by Kermit recently is causing some of the things in the house to happen. We don't have much if any indication of how long the mold has been there (I'm not a mold expert), if Athena lived there before the mold showed up, or if she held the beliefs before the mold showed up. However black mold is dangerous and I wouldn't be surprised if it is contributing to all the issues.

I'll try to write more as more things happen.

[torra-and-the-toons]

Welcome to my Cartoon Blog!

Torra | she/her | 1992 | Autistic | Fan Artist & Author 

Hello! If you’re reading this it means you’ve found my blog! Just a few things before we get started that you should know about me and what I do here. 

I post about whatever cartoon is tickling my brain at the moment, and I flit between hyperfixations like I’m playing duck-duck-goose. Ed Edd n Eddy is the only fandom I have major projects in, but I partake in a lot of other fandoms too. So just know, if you follow me for one fandom, it’s bound to change.

I ramble a lot. I tend to voice my thoughts out loud randomly into the void that is tumblr just because I like to talk to whoever may be listening. If that’s not your thing, you may want to block the #torra rambles tag! Don’t worry, it won’t hurt my feelings. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea and I want to do my best to make this blog enjoyable for all kinds of people.

My askbox is open, but I no longer take requests or answer head-canon related questions, but I’m happy to say hi. No Anons anymore, sorry.

If you’re just here for my art, I suggest looking for #torrasart. For any art I posted before February of 2024, I used #my art, #my doodles just FYI, but mass post editor was too confusing to change it, so I left it as is.

I try to be generally sfw, but I might still post/reblog suggestive text posts occasionally, tagged #suggestive, so minors beware... 

I don’t want to have to block anybody but I will if I have to... 

Please keep in mind that I have a full-time job that takes up a majority of my time and energy, but in spite of that I’m working as hard as I can to bring these projects to life. I also have pretty bad ADHD, which effects my ability to stay focused, but I’m trying. All I ask is for your patience and understanding. 💖

Ed Edd n Eddy Stuff

At the moment I have a few serious projects that I’m working on: My fan-comic, “In the Ed,” my fanfiction, “In the Sky of a Million Stars” and my most recent venture is just my unnamed Torra AU where I unleash my weird furry self-insert/OC into the cul-de-sac like a lunatic because I can’t make normal human OC’s.

IN THE ED

Horror AU, Supernatural Themes, Trigger Warning for blood and possible gore, Content Warning for language and violence.

"Nobody knew it existed. In fact this was the first time anyone had set eyes upon this hilltop manor for quite some time..." Four years after the events of the Big Picture Show, the Eds and friends find themselves in a brand new, death-defying adventure that's sure to shift the genres.

tags: #in the ed comic, #wip shot, #in the ed refs

This fan-comic is also on Ao3 for slightly easier readability! 

Introduction Page! 

CHAPTER 1: Peach Creek Manor

[1-5] [6-10] [11-15] [16-20] [21-25 (coming soon)]

IN THE SKY OF A MILLION STARS

Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Trigger Warning for Suicide Attempts, Content Warning for language and blood

Eddy has always been a man of many fears, but above all else, his greatest fear has always been the inevitability of growing up. Now, with adulthood staring him in the face, he just can’t take it. Why couldn’t things have stayed the way they were? AU where the BPS never happened, and Eddy struggles with the changes happening around and within him. Loosely based on the song "One More Light," by Linkin Park.

tags: #a million stars fic, #a million stars art

Follow it on Ao3 to get the latest updates!

Torra AU [not official name, and no banner image yet]

Comedy, OC, Content warning for language but overall trigger-safe, I think. Unless you have a fear of tigers

tags: #torra oc, #torra au, #torra and the eds

The Isaac Saga [no banner yet]

Comedy with some hurt/comfort themes. 

A collection of comics and drawings about the cat I made for Double Dee named Isaac. 

tags: #isaac the cat, #small things with great ed

Small Things with Great Ed Part 1

[pages 1-5] [6-10] [11-15]

[pleas3pretendimnothere]

May 2024

Only read two books this month, but one of them was the size of three books so... Let's talk about them!

The Way of Kings

By Brandon Sanderson - I'd been putting off this one for a long time, in part because the book is nearly 1,300 pages. I am a Brandon Sanderson fan (I've read 7 other books by the man), and I heard this was his magnum opus. I should have set lower expectations.

I still very much enjoyed Kings. I've read too many bad books to think this was actually bad. It's just...fine! Certainly not the huge, exciting fantasy epic everyone made it out to be. Online hype had me expecting Elden Ring, but all I got was Final Fantasy. We all like Final Fantasy, but by no means is it a modern feat of the genre!

A million people have reviewed this book, and most criticisms I've read are entirely valid. The highlight of Kings is Kaladin's story. Bridge Four's struggle is frightening and endearing--you want to read those parts because it really does feel like characters' lives are stake. That's good! But then, you don't really care about Kaladin when he was eight--please, get back to Bridge Four. Nor do you want to read about Dalinar, a flat, Aragorn-esque mirror of a dozen other characters Sanderson has already written. Shallan, our emotional female lead, is...fine. She's fine. All in all, it's tough to stick around for 1,300 pages with these plain, stereotypical, morally-impervious characters leading the way.

Nonetheless, there's intrigue in the world that kept me reading all the way to the end. Kaladin's story is strange and fantastical, and there's enough mystery peppered into Dalinar and Shallan's chapters to keep my attention. If only the book were a tight, 700 pages, which, I think Sanderson could have easily managed.

I could write about my qualms with this book for ages, but I think it comes down to this. Read Kings if you haven't read anything else by Sanderson--having already read Mistborn, Warbreaker, and Elantris, Kings brings nothing unique to Sanderson's cosmere. Read if you prefer worldbuilding to character work. Read if you want to finally know what the big friggin deal is! But this book isn't a masterpiece by any means. Just RENT IT!

Planesrunner

By Ian McDonald - Where Kings is often fine, Planesrunner is completely and totally fine. This is the definition of middle-of-the-pack. I picked this one up a million years ago from a used bookstore, and sadly, it's been sitting on my shelf all this time for no good reason. Super bad books are fun. Super good books are delightful. Average books bring nothing to the table.

I'm so sorry, Ian. The book's premise rocks. A London kid discovers his kidnapped father has left him a map that allows him to hop universes--a map that is heavily sought after by more sinister forces. Sounds fun, right? That's why I bought it!

And there was a lot to like about Planesrunner, but by the end, I just didn't care. The main character is a perfect, big-brained, Artemis Fowl archetype who believes in goodness and justice. Alternate-universe London is weird, colorful, and evocative of Lanthimos' Barcelona in Poor Things, but I never truly felt like our characters were in danger here. The main character was just too smart to ever be threatened. He made plans with his gang of witty Mortal Engines-like airship crew, and they always worked out brilliantly! When he ultimately succeeds at the book's end--oh no! One thing went wrong, and now we have to have a sequel! Having just read Catherine Fisher's Obsidian Mirror, which has a very similar plot of using a McGuffin to travel times/dimensions in search of a lost father, I would recommend Fisher's books instead. The main character's stubbornness and anger make him interesting, and you want him to succeed--or fail, even! You won't find any intrigue like that in Planesrunner.

This book is incredibly unspecial. Read Fisher's Obsidian Mirror saga or Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series instead. This one, just SKIP IT!

[ordinaryschmuck]

Alright, let's go in order...

I'm intrigued by what Doomsday could be. I'm still not a fan of the fact that they chose RDJ for Doctor Doom when an Romani actor would be much more appropriate. Still, I think SOME kind of good story can come out of it if treated right. It's just a matter of waiting and seeing.

Secret Wars...should NOT be a movie. I tried reading the event comic, and it's way too interesting of a concept to make up a movie. The BOLD choice would be for it to take up a whole saga, showing each section of Doom's land before taking him on in a final battle with all these Avenger variants. That could be exciting, but it's likely what we WON'T see, instead favoring a quick movie showing off small bits of the land as a group of Avengers fight through it. Which would be fun, but a missed potential for what Secret Wars is.

I'm STILL intrigued by what Fantastic Four: First Steps could be. I've seen the first look, and I think this is the right direction to take these characters in and it could be the most unique movie the MCU has ever made...Just PLEASE delay it so you can let it cook. You don't NEED this to compete with James Gunn's Superman, a movie that's already wrapped up on filming and going into post production while this movie just started filming days ago. Give the Fantastic Four the time they need to be good because the world doesn't need a FOURTH bad Fantastic Four movie.

Spider-Man 4 NEEDS to be good. No Way Home had such a great ending that if you really NEED to continue things after that, the film needs to justify its existence with a worthy script that carries the emotional weight that the last movie left on. PLEASE don't undo everything Peter did right away. Let the consequences STICK and give him his happy ending in another movie.

Still not watching Captain America: Brave New World. I don't care how interesting it looks, I'm sticking to my morals on this one. Maybe I'll watch it through special means one day, but that's about it.

I'm hopeful for Shang-Chi 2. I'm one of the few who actually LOVED the first movie and I really want to see this character again. It's just a shame that he got sidelined for a whole bunch of other new characters that the MCU hasn't done ANYTHING with either.

I'm not going to be the asshole who'll go, "Who ASKED for a Wonder Man show?" If we started asking questions like that, we wouldn't HAVE the MCU. No one was begging for an Iron Man movie in 2008, and it was still the biggest spark that launched a dozen projects despite no one really wanting it. HOWEVER, I'm going to instead be that asshole who points out that the MCU kind of lost faith in introducing new characters because of how faulty of a job they've been doing. I WANT to be excited, but I can't be anymore. Especially since I'm not really a Wonder Man fan. He's so...not interesting.

The production hell Blade has gone through and continues to go through, it'll take a fucking MIRACLE for this movie to not only come out but to be GOOD.

I'm curious of what Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man could be at this point. At first it was meant to be the origin story behind MCU Peter Parker, but now it's become more it's own thing as a semi-original series and I'm curious to see what comes of it. I'm always keeping my eye out for Spider-Man stuff, as a loyal fan would, but I'm gonna need to see more of a trailer to determine if it'll be good.

Still do not have high hopes for Thunderbolts.

STILL on my hands and knees PRAYING for Daredevil: Born Again to be good! PLEASE LET IT BE GOOD!

Ironheart...Still trying to think of a way Ironheart could be good...

Armor Wars COULD be fun. I THINK they're making it a movie instead of a series, which I'm for. Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Secret Invasion didn't really NEED to be stretched out into a mini-series when making a movie might have worked better in their favor by cutting out the fluff and making things go by a lot faster. And this is from a guy who LIKES Falcon and the Winter Soldier...Secret Invasion however can go to hell. And I REALLY hope that Armor Wars doesn't confirm that War Machine has been a Skrull since Civil War. That's NOT A GOOD IDEA!

I like the idea behind Marvel Zombies, I'm intrigued by what an TV-MA animated mini-series of survivors surviving a superhero zombie apocalypse can be. Just...maybe cut out the jokes that took up too much time in the What If episode.

Not sure what Eyes of Wakanda could be, but I'm not complaining yet. Always interested in Wakanda stuff.

Saw the trailer for Agatha All Along, and, son of a bitch, it might just be good. IF DONE RIGHT. That's an important distinction. This show could be good if done RIGHT. We'll just have to wait and see.

I'm excited for What If Season Three because I still really like What If. It's my favorite dumb fun show. I don't WANT it to be the last season because...that's a show with endless possibilities. Don't limit it to three seasons when you could go on for, like, eight before things get stale. Just PLEASE keep it going.

Okoye...Is she getting a series or a movie. I hope it's a movie because WHAT could Okoye do that justifies her having a TV show?

Not sure what Sidewinder is but...maybe it'll be good? Honestly, it depends on...whatever the fuck it is. What is it?!

I'm EXCITED for X-Men Season Two! LOVED the first season and I can't wait for more! Season Three is where I get a little wary because that's the season where the showrunner of What If takes the reigns because the last guy got fired for...reasons. And as much as I like What If...X-Men 97 is TEN TIMES better, being the best X-Men content fans got in YEARS (if you ignore the comics). If you're going to replace the showrunner, you need someone who can match their talent.

I'm not sure what the live-action Wakanda series could be and how that's different from Eyes of Wakanda...but I want it to be good. MAKE IT GOOD!

Hey! We're finally getting an answer to what the fuck Vision has been up to since WandaVision. That only took...way too long.

Nova. Nova, Nova, Nova...What could they even do with Nova at this point?

And I'm grateful for getting a Marvel Special Presentation. They're short and fun and easy to get into. A lot more than I can say about other shows on Disney+

And that's everything...I'm barely excited for ANY of this. I'm cautiously optimistic about a lot of projects here and vaguely curious about some of them all while BEGGING for each project to be good. I WANT them to be good. I want the MCU to IMPROVE instead of continuing on its decline since Endgame. Just PLEASE let it improve, that's all I'm asking for.