#I really wanted to be normal about food today but once I realized I’d be eating over 1000 cals I freaked out

[makkie-is-screaming]

doing uphill sprints in 100 degrees while wearing jeans was not a good decision

[ssivinee]

❇︎Meeting Doyennes❇︎

BEBE! Bada Lee x OC Team! F Reader: The first mentions of being on SWF 2 had you excited. Everything seemed to be going well in the process... well, that's until you figure out who your competitors are.

Word Count: 2.1k

Note: Reading the girl's profiles beforehand would really help you, just so you don't get confused :) Also, the contact names are what you named each other.

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It was a warm day in April, and the Interflow Agency building buzzed with sounds of chatter and music. In a dance studio on the 7th floor of the company, loud tunes could be heard blasting as two individuals moved to the track. As the loud bass filled their ears, their limbs followed, feeling the sound and beat as playful grins upheld their faces.

“I need to know how your body moves that way,” the younger girl, Serena, asks. “Simply years of experience,” you quickly answer as you finish off, posing to the aggressive ending of the tune. “I don't think I’d be as good as you in 10 years.”

“You're already as good as me now, Serena. Stop doubting yourself so much, girl.” The older says as she walks over to her phone, turning down the music as they talk. 

“You have any classes later today?” “Nope, the company called an emergency meeting. Didn’t tell me why, though,” you tell her, shoulders shrugging at the text you got this morning from the CEO. “Wonder what it's about,” Serena mumbles, going deep in thought.

“Well, I guess I’m about to find out 'cause I need to go~,” you say, waving off with your bag in hand. “K, see you later!” You hear her say as the door shut.

As you entered the 10th floor, you were met with greetings from fellow co-workers. You enter the meeting room, feeling the serious air settling in on your brain. “Y/n, please take a seat.” You sat in front of the CEO, showing a friendly face, “What’s going on?”

“I actually have some exciting news for you.” You moved forward in your chair, a bit intrigued, “and that would be?”

“The famous Korean televisor, Mnet, reached out to us about a dance show called Street Woman Fighter 2, and I want you to represent us.”

A shocked look appears on your face. You were a fan of the first season, enjoying the fact that “normal people” get to have an inside look at the dance community in some way. “I’d be honored! But that show needs a crew.”

“And that’s why, as the leader, I’m giving you full control over who you want on the team.”

Your eyes widened at the man's statement, “Are you sure?” “I trust you’ll make the right decisions, Y/n. You are one of the most experienced and trusted dancers in this company, so I’m sure you’ll pick the right ladies.”

The CEO told you more about the details and finally concluded the meeting after an hour. When leaving the room, your brain began throwing around names that could possibly join you on your journey to Korea. The CEO had stated you could pick five to seven women, and you already had your first pick in mind, Serena.

But who else?

You were in a dilemma, unsure whether to assemble a team that closely resembled your own style for a more unified look or to opt for a more diverse group to avoid limiting your crew. As you contemplated this, you eventually shook your head, realizing that variety would be the better choice. The CEO had provided you with a folder containing profiles of all the other dance instructors at Interflow. You settled in the building's cafeteria, flipping through the thick folder while snacking on some food.

As your fingers flipped through each file, you began picking women whose styles varied and weren't necessarily too popular. That was until you limited down to four other women. 

Emi Tanaka, 28 years old and specializes in contemporary fusion.  Isabella “Bella” Vasquez, also known as Bell, is 25 years old and specializes in ballet.  Maya Chen, 25 years old and specializes in waacking. Iris Onasis, also known as Athena, 24 years old and specializes in tap and ballroom.

Once you've decided, you immediately text Serena.

Dancing Queen👑 I’m taking u out later tn ill txt u the dets later

Flow Baby🧸 is this you asking me out?

You chuckled at the younger girl's response, finding her humorous even when knowing it was a genuine question.

Dancing Queen👑 noooo but it is important😉

Flow Baby🧸 alright then just lmk

You then got into contact with the other girls and told them your unsuspected plan for tonight.

All six of you now sat at a table in a pristine restaurant, all of you dressed up in gallant attires. As the girls chatted away, Serena couldn’t help but wonder why they were all sitting at a table together. It was a fairly unusual combination since most of the girls never worked together. Yes, they were friends, but that was pretty much due to them all working under Interflow.

“I don’t wanna ruin the moment, but can I ask why we’re all here?” Emi asks, almost as if she was reading Serena’s mind. “Well, I just had a meeting with the CEO today, and he said that I have an upcoming project coming up, so I just wanted to celebrate with you guys.”

The girls somewhat eye each other, feeling that there was more to the story. They literally worked in different areas of dance. Why wouldn’t they be suspicious about this? “Well, what’s the project?” “It actually involves you guys,” you let out calmly, but the girls seemed to take your tone a bit too seriously. “Is the project hard?”

“Oh fuck that, what is the damn project?” Iris cuts Maya’s question short as her bluntness turns on blast. “It’s Street Woman Fighter 2.”

…

“WHAT?”

“No way!”

“Is this real?”

You giggle at the several questions being thrown at you, “Yes, 100% real.” “Holy shit!”

“I guess we’re going to Korea, guys.”

The restaurant buzzed with excitement as the news sank in. You and your five talented friends were going to Korea for the viral show, and more people may finally have the chance to see who they were. The initial shock turned into enthusiasm, and the celebration continued.

You shared stories of your dance journeys and discussed the upcoming adventure. How would your diverse dance styles work together? What challenges and opportunities awaited in Korea? The group's unity grew, and you made plans for the project.

As the night progressed, you exchanged contact information and solidified your commitment to this new dance crew. The journey was just beginning, and you were all eager to showcase your talents on the international stage.

So, the next following weeks were busy for the six of you. The team had begun bonding over the hectic time, going out to eat, playing games, dancing together, filming tiktoks, and even coming up with the crew name.

The naming was the most difficult part. Everyone had such good ideas being thrown around and wasn’t agreeing on one. Athena and Maya liked ‘The Sirens,’ explaining that we gave off a dangerous yet elegant vibe. Emi stated she likes the name ‘Unity,’ but the other girls found it a bit boring. 

Bell and Serena stayed silent about the suggestions, saying how they weren’t really creative enough to think of one. So when you suggested ‘Doyennes,’ you were expecting the girls to hate it or even contemplate it but instead received such positive remarks.

After a wait of a month, Mnet released the statements of the show and all the crews joining. The team sat in the dance studio as they scrolled on a shared tablet, looking through their competitors. The team members weren’t released, but the crew names were, so seeing the crew with the pink logo gave the younger dancers chills.

“Jam Republic? They're probably gonna be out biggest competitors, huh?” Emi asks, and all the girls nod. Athena then looks at you and wonders, “Aren’t you under Jam, Lotus?” Her words cause all the girls to stare at you, all beginning to wonder the same thing. “That’s right! You signed with them 2 years ago. So why aren’t you with them?”

“Interflow has always been my top priority over Jam. The contract is a big achievement for me, sure, but I first started here.”

“Did they reach out to you?” Bell asks, but you shake your head, “I was told that Jam already knew I was the first dancer picked for our company, so they didn’t bother.” 

You began to think, Jam Republic had many talented dancers under their belt, so who was going to be chosen? “I’m sure they made a very diverse crew as well,” you tell the girls. “Is there someone you expect to see on the team?” “Oh, Kirsten, for sure.”

Their eyes widened at the famous name, and Bell could be seen fangirling as she sat on the couch. “Kirsten? Like Kirsten Dodgen? Kirsten of the Royal Family? The girl that went viral for being the green shirt girl in Justin Beiber's music video?” You laugh at Bell’s ramble, following it with a nod. “Wait… do you know her?” Emi questions, and you simply nod, typing away at your phone.

As you bring it up to your ears, everyone looks at you like you're crazy. “What are you doing?” Maya asks, but you hold up your finger, silencing them a bit. The person you called picks up, and you smile, “Hey, Kirs,” Bell goes crazy and starts shaking your arms in excitement. “I wanted to ask you something,” you say, and Emi mouths ‘put her on speaker,’ to which you nod, clicking the button on your phone.

Everyone hears the girl’s accent coming through, “and that would be?” “Are you a part of JR’s crew on Street Woman Fighter?” Before she responds, you hear her adorable laugh from the speaker, “Yeah, and I’m assuming you are a part of Doyennes, huh?”

A smile creeps up on your face, “Got that right. I guess I’ll be seeing you in Korea then, Kirs.” “Better give me some good competition, Lo,” you smirk at the nickname, “Of course, you know I never back down.”

“Right, right, well, I have a busy schedule today, so I have to go, but talk to you soon?” She questions, and you hum in agreement, “Yeah, see you in June, girl.” The team hears the line end, and you hear Bell squealing, “You never said you knew her.” “Well, it never came up in a conversation,” Athena says, pinching the girl’s leg jokingly with her obvious tone.

As your crew kept chatting, you scrolled more through the article, and the name in light blue bubble-style letters popped up. Bebe?

You could’ve sworn you’ve heard of them before, so you go to Instagram on your phone, typing the crew name in your search bar. Your finger pressed on the first profile page, and you saw multiple videos of younger girls dancing. But your eyes trailed to the tallest woman in every video. You checked out the tagged pages and saw the familiar name, a light gasp coming out of your mouth.

The girls stop their conversations due to your audible gasp, feeling a bit concerned. “What? What is it?” “Apparently, we won't be the only crew with another JR dancer.” The dancers looked at you confusingly until you flipped your phone, showing them your phone screen with her profile on it. 

“Bebe has Bada Lee as their leader.”

Silence fills the room until Emi breaks it, “Isn’t she the one with viral Kpop choreographies in Korea?” You could only nod at the question. Not only was Jam Republic gonna be a huge rival for you guys. 

This new information made you realize that your talents wouldn’t be the only important thing on this show. Popularity was gonna be a big factor, and knowing that many Kpop fans would likely watch the show, you immediately knew Bada would take the crown for that.

You weren’t oblivious. Bada had the charm, looks, charisma, height, and appeal that would get her trending, and you were sure she'd be trending fast. You grumble, your shoulders slumping at the heavy realization. Maya looks at you worryingly, “Is that bad for us?”

You shook your head, “Not necessarily. It just makes it harder for us. We’re pretty popular, but knowing someone on the show has gone viral multiple times for their dances puts us at a disadvantage. Especially on a Korean show.”

You may only be half Korean and raised in the States, but your mom raised you well enough to be involved in the culture. You knew a lot about Mnet and the way Korea worked, and it had you slightly worried for your crew. 

The Korean public reaction to three international crews wouldn’t be bad. They just may not be as good reactions in comparison to Korean teams.

You shook the thought out of your head, trying to be as optimistic as possible for your team, “We can do it, guys. We’ll aim high, like we always do, and make it to the top.” Everyone nods in agreement, smiles taking over their faces.

“We’re gonna show the world what the Professors of dance can do.”

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Tag list (OPEN): @bada-lee-ily @froufrousnowman @amararosesblog @tikitsune @nimixe @lorenztired @sammybeefangirls @cephox @1luvkarina @badasgirlfriend @keiddeu @mikaleialt @maknaehyucks @fillthwvoid @aestrelle19 @cool-ultra-nerd @itsbokutosjuicyass @gaymoregayandgayer @tnu-ree @cutelittleakira

[sawturn77]

𝑶𝑪𝑬𝑨𝑵 𝑬𝒀𝑬𝑺 (𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒊 𝒙 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓)

02: somebody I used to know.

MASTERLIST.

january 1st, 2018.

----

suguru saved me from the awkward silence and wiggly eyebrows from satoru. "y/n! come help me set up the table, please!" "coming!" i bolted out of there. phew, at least im free from embarrassment now. . once i got in the kitchen, yuji and nobara were arguing about who was going to eat the most food. suguru handed me the utensils that went on the table. i realized hadn't talked to him since i got home. he gently patted my head instead of ruffling my hair like satoru. "how was your visit to the ice rink?" he asked, gently smiling at me. "It was good, until i hit my head and fell on my butt." suguru chuckled at my defeated tone. i started to set the table, placing the chopsticks, spoons, etc in front of every seat. i watch as yuji and nobara approach him, talking to him comfortably. i didnt know they were friends with megumi. he seems like the closed off type, especially now.

----

soon, shoko arrives and everyone eats. i have to admit, my brother sure can cook. im starting to think hes like satoru's malewife..anyways, after everyone finished eating, we had a drawing, and whoever drew the short stick had to wash dishes while everyone else got to play uno. God was NOT favoring me today. there were two short sticks, and guess who got them! me and megumi. FREAKING MEGUMI. you know what? it cant get more awkward than this.... right?

wrong.

here, we stood right beside each other, shoulder touching shoulder, leg touching leg. i wanted to crawl in a hole and disappear. the worst part was, he wasn’t even bothered by it! he didn’t even acknowledge it! surely, if i was him, i’d at least be stealing glances! oh, well, maybe he isnt that kind of guy. he was never interested in stuff like that. the two of us stood at the kitchen sink, washing dishes. the entire time, i was wondering how to start a conversation and barely got anything done! megumi had done most of it. now he probably thinks im useless! he’ll never associate himself with someone so unhelpful. “so,” i started, lips trembling. he glances at me. how come his eyelashes are so long? does he use mascara? “how..how have you b-been lately?” i wanted to curse myself. who the hell stutters nowadays!? “alright. what about you?” i could feel my shoulders tensing. i had heard his voice earlier, but now, im really paying attention to it. just thinking about it makes my stomach do axles. “good, actually.” i smiled, desperate to keep myself from squealing. minutes past, he hasnt said anything after that. okay, you dont wanna talk to me, cool. fine. whatever. (squealing) part of me wanted yuji and nobara to come in and start being annoying to break the ice. hell, maybe even satoru would do. after what seemed like decades, we finally finished washing the dishes. i sighed in relief, but i couldnt have a moment of grace before my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. i felt a napkin on my cheek, wiping soap off my face. “sorry,” he muttered. kill. me. please. “you had soap on your face.” i laughed awkwardly while he just looked at me, “really? i-uhm, i didn’t know! thanks.” what the hell, y/n?? what is your problem??

yuji and nobara ran towards me and megumi, bombarding us with a fury of words i didnt understand. something along the lines of, “guess what?? i won against mr. gojo!” “no, kugisaki cheated!” “the hell? i didnt cheat! all of you just suck!” “cheater cheater, pumpkin eater!” “grow up!” megumi frowned at their antics. “idiots” he muttered.

an: hey guys sorry for the short chapter😔i kinda rushed bc i have to gts early bc i have school tmrw. but i will be posting tomorrow or the day after that! it normally takes me two days (4 hours total) to write this much anyway

TAGLIST: @fillmeup6969 @morgyyyyy @kasumitenbaz (OPEN)

[nehswritesstuffs]

Baratie: Home to Chefs, Strays, and the Occasional Sword Goblin - Part 2

We’re back!

First chapter on [tumblr] - [FFN] - [AO3]

It’s a new day, and how is Sanji going to explain this kid to the rest of the Baratie? Let alone the geezer? How is he going to handle... childcare...? [3884 words]

Waking earlier than normal, Sanji realized that it wasn’t the threat of an earthquake that was shaking him awake as in his dream, but Asido jumping up and down on the empty side of the bed. The boy bounced about, wide a-fucking-wake, making Sanji feel exhausted already.

“Don’t do that,” he warned halfheartedly. Asido threw his legs in front of him and landed on his rear, bouncing himself still. “Sleep good?”

“Kinda,” the boy replied. “Are you gonna bring me back to Mom today?”

“I doubt it, but I am going to see what the hell it is I’m dealing with,” Sanji said. “Let’s get you into clean clothes, alright? Time to meet the geezer.”

“The who…?”

“Trust me: I want this as much as you do.” Sanji cringed inwardly at the idea of leaving his newfound nephew in the care of Zeff of all people, but he also figured that there wasn’t much he could do with such a small child… and, well, the asshole raised him, didn’t he? Though to be fair, he had been older than Asido back then… “Hey, kid, how old are you again?”

“Four and a half!” the boy proudly proclaimed. “Mom says I’m more like I’m six because I’m so big and smart, but Miss Cosette thinks something else, even if she never says it.”

That caught his attention. “Miss Cosette…?”

“Yeah! I used to stay with her when Mom was at work,” Asido said. He allowed himself to get dragged to the bathroom and washed, after which he was allowed to fish fresh clothes from his bag. “Mom said that Miss Cosette needed to get back to her other job, which was why we were going on our trip. What did Miss Cosette do?”

“She’s a cook,” Sanji nodded idly. “She’s so skilled and talented that I’d trust her with this restaurant if I had to, and she doesn’t even have fancy training.”

“Well yeah… all her food is yummy.”

“It really is—just a few lessons in haute cuisine or some time abroad and she could even be amazing… and I don’t throw that sort of compliment around all the time.”

“’Cause you’re a cook too!”

“That I am.” Once Asido was fully clothed and looking presentable, he brought the boy out into the corridor and knocked on Zeff’s door. “Oi, we have a visitor.”

“At this fucking hour?!” Yeah, it was a good thing they had a floor to themselves. Zeff threw open the door, all scowls and a thousand different threats ready on his tongue. Instead he looked down, saw Asido, and blanched.

“Eggplant…? What did you do…?”

“Blame. My. Sister.”

“That lass has plenty of explaining to do normally,” Zeff grumbled. He noticed that Asido was staring at his peg leg and chuckled lowly. “What’s your name, little azuki?”

“Not azuki, it’s Asido!” the boy insisted.

“It’s a bean—get used to it, ‘cause he won’t let it go.”

“How do you know?”

“Hasn’t dropped my plant-based nickname yet.” Sanji pushed Asido in past the door and shut it behind them, making sure no one coming up the stairs would see or bother them.

“Why?”

“He’s my dad—it’s what dads do.”

“It is…?”

“It’s what you aim for, anyhow.”

“So…” Asido looked at Zeff. “You’re my grandpa…?”

“No.” Sanji was getting exasperated at this point. “He’s my dad, not your mom’s dad. It’s… complicated.” He then pointed over towards the window, where the sun was beginning to rise. “Hey, why don’t you watch out for ships? This room’s always been good for that.”

“Uh… okay…” The boy dragged a chair over towards the window and stood on it, pressing his nose into the glass. Zeff gave Sanji a critical look and stepped to the side.

“What the fuck is going on?!” he growled, his ire punctuated by a coughing fit.

“Listen: I wasn’t consulted, or warned, or nothing. Here.” Sanji took the letter out of his pocket and let Zeff read it. “Now you know about as much as I do, which is frankly not very much at all.”

“Here—now we can be on the same page.” Zeff grabbed a newspaper from underneath a stack and shoved it out towards Sanji. “I don’t care if it is about some wastes of cum… just read it already.” Sanji looked down at the paper and Zeff tapped on it.

WEDDING OF THE CENTURY – GERMA PRINCESS TO WED NOTICE MERCHANT HEIR IN SUMMER CEREMONY

Ah—it was worse than he feared. Reiju was not just forced into a marriage for Judge’s power grabs, but a money grab as well. Whatever, whomever, the poor idiot was, there was no way he was prepared for the sort of shit their family was going to put them through. Sanji skimmed the article and frowned.

“Reiju’s just the first,” he noted. “Ichiji in the fall, then Niji next spring, and Yonji next winter. He’s pairing them all off.”

“Thought he realized how big of a mistake it was when the bastard tried doing that with you.”

“Tch… don’t remind me.” Sanji dropped the paper on the sidetable and exhaled heavily. “The kid’s not even five yet. I don’t know what my sister’s been doing, or who she’s doing things with, but she helped me get out of there, and now she needs the same thing for her son. I need you to watch him while I get our meals together, but I’ll make sure to find a sitter so you’re not ruining Chopper’s timetable.”

“Wouldn’t want to make the reindeer upset, would we?”

“No, we don’t.” He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll… be back, alright? We can talk about this some more.”

Zeff grunted and allowed Sanji to leave, with the latter returning with their food in almost record time. Sanji found that Zeff had Asido sitting at the table with him, watching the boy stumble over reading the comics section out loud.

“Put that away for now—it’s time for breakfast,” he said. Asido looked up from the paper, his eyes wide.

“Uncle Sanji, I’m reading about a superhero! He’s from the North! Like us!”

“Oh yeah?” He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the newspaper—of fucking course Zeff would have him reading that shit. “Sora, eh? That’s been running since I was little. Used to be you could find a Northern kid by just shouting his motto into a crowded street, but it’s so popular that now everyone can read it.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Asido grinned as some fruit-laden oatmeal was placed in front of him. “I wonder if I can read it from the beginning…”

“I’m sure we can find the compilations,” Zeff chuckled. He threw Sanji and shit-eating grin as he ruffled the boy’s hair. Not even twenty minutes and the old man was already sabotaging the entire thing. “So, the azuki and I agree that the first thing we need to figure out is what we’re doing with him today. Any thoughts, Uncle Eggplant?”

“Ha, ha—he’s staying with me,” Sanji replied. “I already have Patty and Carne on their maintenance split-shift in the main kitchens, so I can just use the day to get to know my nephew a little better. There’s a lot that letters can’t tell you about a person.”

“That’s true!” Asido piped up. “Maybe that’s why Mom wanted me to stay here, so I can know you better!”

“I’m sure that’s a big part of it,” Sanji said, forcing a chuckle. He and Zeff exchanged a quick look—getting answers from Reiju was going to need to become a priority. “I’ll show him around, and then keep him while doing paperwork, but I will need a little bit of time this afternoon to make a snail call.”

“Why?”

“I can’t stay with you all day, every day,” Sanji explained. “As much as I’m going to enjoy hanging out, the geezer can’t watch you when I’m working; I’m going to get you a babysitter.”

“Oh…” Asido shuffled his oatmeal with his spoon, pensive. “Like how Miss Cosette watcheded me for Mom?”

“A little different than that, but you’re correct—I already know exactly who to call for a recommendation.”

“Not the long-nose brat,” Zeff groaned.

“Do I have any other friends nearby with small children?”

“Last time those lads of his were over, I had to reupholster four booths in the dining room.”

“Part of the process is going to be asking if they’ve grown up at all these last couple years,” Sanji deadpanned. “Just let me do this, alright?”

“We’ve got plenty of comics to read in the meantime, eggplant,” Zeff said.

“Don’t you take that tone with me, old man,” Sanji barked. “Either magically find someone else who can recommend a sitter, or do it yourself and risk Chopper keeping you locked up here for another three months before physical therapy.” Zeff grunted and glared at his son, knowing he was right, though not wanting to give him the dignity of hearing it out loud.

“This is a large undertaking, brat,” Zeff warned. Sanji scoffed at that.

“I know, but this year is about what needs to get done, not what I’ve been chasing,” the younger man said. He waited until Asido was finished with his food before clearing their plates. “Come on, azuki—got to introduce you to the morons before it gets too busy. After that, I’ll show you around the place.” A sinking feeling plopped inside his guts. “How are you with directions?”

“Pretty good, I think,” the boy nods, dutifully following. “I don’t really get lost, but Mom and Miss Cosette were always there too.”

“Well, it’s pretty hard to get lost here once you know it for a bit, so don’t worry,” Sanji said. He led the boy out into the corridor and down the stairs. At least it didn’t sound like he was working with someone of the Mosshead’s caliber… but then again, the kid wasn’t even really old enough for school yet.

As expected, the very moment that Sanji walked back into the kitchens, all the attention was diverted to him and, subsequently, the child poking out from behind him. Daily prep froze immediately, all eyes filled with questions.

“Listen up, assholes!” Sanji scowled. “My nephew got dropped off last night while I was wrapping up with closing. He’s gonna be staying here for a while, so don’t freak out if you see him wandering around.”

“‘Nephew’, huh?” Patty smirked, raising an eyebrow. He stared at Asido, then glanced up at Sanji, and looked at the boy again, sizing up how much of this he believed. “We’re not as stupid as you think, kid.”

“He is my uncle!” Asido snapped, his brow furrowing in what was a frightening accidental imitation of his only relative on the ship. “He looks like Mom! But taller! And different hair! They have the same eyebrows! He’s not lying!”

“Hey, calm down,” Sanji said gently, placing his hand atop Asido’s head. The boy realized he was not behind his uncle and then retreated, glaring at Patty as he poked his head out cautiously. Sanji then shot Patty a pointed look of his own that tore through the other man before turning his attention back to the kitchen at large. “His name is Asido and he hasn’t been away from home before—be nice or I’ll feed you to the Sea Kings. That goes for all of you.”

A muttered chorus of “yes, chef” was heard, to the point Sanji figured it was going to do for the time being. He passed off his tray to the dishwasher and ushered Asido out into the dining room. Sunlight was fully illuminating the space now, making it feel leagues different than it did the night before.

“Don’t worry about them,” Sanji said. He brought Asido outside and took the opportunity to suck down his morning cigarette. “A lot of those morons have been here since I was a kid—they’re nothing special.”

“Are you sure? That one guy sure did look at me funny.”

“He looked at you funny because you look like me, but you and I both know that it’s because we look like your mom as well. They’d know better already if they’d seen her.”

“Then… why didn’t she stay?” Asido looked up at the ship’s height, eyes growing wide. “Whoa, wait, we were that high up?!”

“That we were,” Sanji chuckled, glad for the topic shift. He pointed at a balcony, where he could see Zeff settling in with his book. “See where the geezer is? All the way up there?”

“Wow! Grandpa Zeff looks really small!”

Sanji smirked at that and filed the name away for another time when the geezer was being particularly obstinate. “We’re going to make our way back there, alright? This ship will be your home as long as you’re with me, and I want you to feel comfortable wandering around in it. Now, how do you think we get back?”

The two then spent the next few hours wandering around the interior of the Baratie, with Asido learning the layout of the ship and Sanji coaxing him through their adventure. The blond described the different kind of ships and boats that were moored there, the sorts of customers that would come to eat there, how he and Zeff made it a wonderful place where people would come from miles around, just to have a meal. He put thoughts of caring and comfort into the boy’s head, because if Reiju could not, then who would? The boy was taking the entire situation in-stride, and his uncle was going to make sure that something good came of it.

Eventually, Sanji left Asido upstairs with Zeff and returned to the kitchens to get together a lunch for the three of them. When he arrived, he was met by Patty and Carne commiserating lowly in the corner, the pair looking at him suspiciously.

“What the fuck do you losers want?” he snapped while tying his hair back.

“Nothing—I was just telling Carne about your guest,” Patty shrugged. “Since when do you have a sister?”

“Since always, not that you two are allowed within five hundred kilometers of her,” Sanji deadpanned. He wondered why they hadn’t read it in the papers, why they hadn’t figured it out by that point, but then again… it would involve them reading and he wasn’t entirely certain either man could do that without it being related to a recipe. “She lives in the North Blue, and, wouldn’t you want a kid to not grow up in that frozen hellscape if there was a chance for otherwise?”

“It’s just… convenient, is all,” Carne shrugged. “He supposedly looks like you…?”

“Yeah, because my sister and I look a lot alike… you know… like siblings often do.” Sanji considered throwing both men overboard, but he really wasn’t feeling like adding a senior staff shortage to the list of things he wanted to deal with at that current moment. “I’d appreciate if you both took what I say as fact for once, because it’s looking very likely you’ll be watching him grow up as well.”

“You make it sound like your family sucks balls,” Carne noted.

“Why do you think growing up with you two as babysitters was preferable?” Sanji quipped. He had them there, and they didn’t even fight back after that—for all they hated about each other, there was a twisted version of respect that lingered in their fractious relationship. “It’s alright—I got a new family now, and the kid is going to be part of it.”

Patty and Carne both shrugged and went back to their discussion, this time it being about one of the newer hires. Sanji proceeded to put together some lunch and brought it up to Zeff’s room, the older man having announced with that shitty grin of his that he figured out a way to get all the collection books of Sora, Warrior of the Sea. Sanji didn’t have to ask to know that the geezer was doing it just to fuck with the Vinsmokes, not like he was really going to complain.

After lunch was done and cleaned up after, Sanji locked himself in his bedroom, knowing that one of the last things he wanted to do with an audience was contact one of his crewmates. They had dealt with enough of his fucked-up family issues, so why was he so nervous about this time? He stared at the transponder snail for a bit before sighing in resignation—if he didn’t do this before leaving the room, he never would, and he possibly wouldn’t get relief until Chopper came, which was a long time to be juggling more than he could properly take on. Dialing Usopp’s number, he waited for the other end to pick up as the snail buzzed. A tiny voice broke the wordless wait, brimming in overconfidence while still stumbling slightly over the words, the snail copying a bright expression.

“Sogeking Projectiles and Explosives—how may I direct your call?”

“Merry, darling, it’s Uncle Sanji—I need your dad.”

The small child gasped, presumably dropping the snail. “Dad! Dad! Dad! It’s Uncle Sanji!”

“Oh, shit!” Usopp fumbled to pick up the snail and the one on Sanji’s end grew exasperated. “Hey—I didn’t think you’d be calling so soon.”

“Let’s just cut to the chase: I’m in the middle of a jam and I need your help.”

“My help?” There was shuffling on the other end of the line and Usopp’s voice dropped—he was hiding. “What can you possibly do that would require my help?”

“It’s more of who you have who can help me.”

“Eh…?”

“I need to borrow one of your lads, maybe all three. Soon as you can. They can take turns.”

“Why do you need to borrow them?” Usopp wondered. “Do you need repairs done around the place Zeff doesn’t want Franky overembellishing? Some extra hands serving and dishwashing?”

“I need a babysitter.”

The transponder snail went quiet, peering suspiciously at Sanji. The blond’s eye twitched as he tried to keep it together.

“I know you have them watch your spawn—I need a babysitter.”

“Since when?”

“Will you stop looking like you’re the cat that caught the fattest fucking canary and just send them over? I’ll let them stay for free, I’m that desperate.”

Usopp whistled. “That is a tall order, but I’m afraid I can’t. Sorry. They’re prepping to head out on their own adventure soon. If you’re in that desperate of a need, I’ve got a houseguest who I think might do a great job.”

“At this point, I’m not in a position to be picky. I can’t take him for too long, and it’s safe to say that Zeff’s not supposed to have him, which leaves me in a tight spot.”

“What about the other chefs?”

“I barely trust them with allemand, let alone an actual child.”

“I did not understand that, but send me your coordinates, give me three to five business days, and you’ll have yourself a temporary live-in babysitter that’s great with kids until you can find a permanent solution.”

“You sure you’re not just dumping an unwanted houseguest on me? I’m not getting a weirdo, am I?”

“No.” Oh, there was a laugh in there.

“…it’s not your father, is it?”

“No, no, just trust me, alright? And if you don’t trust me, trust Kaya.”

“Can I get that in writing?”

“Asshole.”

“Alright, fine, I’ll give this rec of yours a chance, but it’s on you if this doesn’t go well.”

“I, Usopp, World’s Greatest Sniper and Chillest Bestie, solemnly swear it’s no one I wouldn’t leave my own kids with, and that’s a fact.”

Sanji sighed dramatically. “Alright, fine, I’ll give you our coordinates, and you’re getting a new Vivre Card when you do show up, so that we don’t have this issue anymore. You’re worse than Luffy.”

“Tell the literal toddlers wandering around to stop stealing and eating my shit and we’ll have a deal.” The two exchanged location information and confirmed that it looked like Usopp could be there late the following afternoon if the winds stayed favorable. “Oh, and Sanji…?”

“Yeah…?”

“This, uh, kid… where’d it come from?”

“It’s, uh, probably too long a story for the snails to handle.” Yeah, it was a private snail network, but there was a decent chance that their communications were constantly being tapped. A location, he’d give up, but that just meant that he’d be ready for trouble on the receiving deck, not sending trouble to where he couldn’t fight. “We’d be here for a while.”

“Fine—I’ll hear the story when I get there—fucking asshole. To think I’m giving you a babysitter.”

“Yeah, yeah; see you soon, Usopp.”

“See you then, Sanji.”

The transponder snail fell asleep and Sanji knew that the call had ended. He leaned back in his desk chair and silently stared out the window.

Late tomorrow.

It still did nothing in regards to the mystery of where in the hell Asido came from, let alone what he was going to do with him. The kid was much too young to be in the kitchen—shit. What sort of schooling did he have up until now? Was struggling over reading Sora, Warrior of the Sea right where he should have been, or was he ahead? Or behind? Fuck… way to make it complicated, sis.

After checking to make sure that there was a News Coo resting on the eaves, Sanji went into his desk and pulled some paper and a pen out—at least he wasn’t going to take this laying down.

‘Reiju,

‘I got your package. It’s a shame that you couldn’t hand it to me yourself, but I understand the sort of time crunch you’re in. Guessing by what the gossip columns are saying, you’re extremely busy and Father would notice if you were gone long enough to visit properly. If you can, then you should. Visit properly. Call me sentimental, but I’d like that. I’ll make some manju with all these azuki beans you gave me—the geezer probably won’t stop laughing. He hasn’t yet.

‘Not that I don’t appreciate you thinking of me, but it was very out of the blue to get the azuki. When you visit, you’ll have to explain your reasoning behind it, how you came across them. Funny as this might sound, I don’t get to see them every day. One would think how I am, I’ve procured plenty… but you’d be surprised. You gave them to me, however, and I’ll use the experience wisely.

‘I hope to hear from you soon.

‘Sanji

‘Oh, and congrats, I guess. Hope he knows what a prize he’s got. The only one of my siblings that’s not a complete psychopath? He lucked out.’

Carefully, Sanji stuffed the letter in an envelope and addressed it to his sister. He tapped on the window and the News Coo hopped over, squawking as he slid it open. It took the letter and payment before flapping off, presumably to wherever his sister was being detained.

At any rate, at least she would know that her son was safe.

[ecodweeb]

Loss, road trips, and a race to 10,000 miles

(Wiping away tears) Where to start this post? It’s been a busy summer for me: lots of grieving, Energica issues, Hyundai road trips, Iron Butt planning, new bike firmware, and now a race to reach 10,000 miles before August 16th.

The grieving isn’t over…

For the past 8 or 9 years, I’ve spent every single weekend from March till late October in the back yard of a retired EPA Scientist who spent his life working to clean up the air we breathe. This was the first person I knew with a home solar array, and he was the kindest soul you’d ever meet. My first “long” motorcycle ride was to his house on a Saturday to swim and socialize with my gay brothers in a safe and inclusive space that he provided for free. In all the years of going to his pool parties, I can count on one hand the number of guests he asked not to come back.

David was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor in December 2017. He had surgery and started chemo therapy, and the summer tradition continued for 2018. We had no idea it would be the last, because what wasn’t revealed until Feb 2019 was that the doctors gave him 14 months to live with surgery and treatment. David wanted one last normal summer, so he withheld this from us until he suspended his chemo and began the process of leaving this earth in February 2019.

David was a huge supporter of Electric Vehicles. When we brought the Smart EV over for the first time in 2016, he lit up with excitement. He was honored to let his solar-powered home charge a car that produced zero tailpipe emissions. What was at the time a major pain in the arse, but has become my most fond memory, was that the outlet we charged with was on the same circuit as the microwave. We had to put up warning signs on the microwave, which was never noticed, so I began to unplug the microwave when I plugged in the car (and would reset the time when I plugged it back in). David entered into Hospice care in June 2019.

Energica Woes

I love this bike so much that sometimes I forget it’s a first generation machine. I got a reminder on the summer Solstice, June 21, 2019. I took this day off from work with the intention of doing 300+ miles of riding, the weather was perfect after the weeks of rain that we’d had and I needed some serious road therapy to cope with the inevitable passing of my friend and mentor. Except that wasn’t going to happen.

I had lunch plans with my old VW buddy Jess, we were going to the Morgan Street Food Hall for a leisurely lunch. I geared up and got on the bike, having gotten a little less than 2 miles away from my house when I get an Undefined Fault. I pull over and restart the bike, only to have it happen again in another couple miles. It did this about 6 times before I realized I have a real problem and I won’t be riding today. I cancelled lunch, and rode to the dealer (which, of course, it didn’t fault once on that 10 mile ride).

I used the phone app to pull the diagnostic codes, but the dealer had no mention of “C” codes in their handbook. They were going to need to contact Energica, so I left the bike and had some friends pick me up and take me home. It was a Friday, and the dealer is closed Sunday and Monday. They did the diagnostic log dump and sent it to Energica on Saturday. Monday Energica reviewed the problem and shipped a replacement throttle assembly over night. It arrived just before close of business on Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoon I had my bike back. I was really impressed with the turn around time for this repair, it was miles ahead of their competition (which I have numerous first hand experiences with). I took the next day off from work to do what I’d hoped to do on the 21st: go for a really long ride.

June 27: I left my house around 8am and was charging at the Electrify America station in Rocky Mount by 9. It was warm that day, 85F and climbing, so the bike was charging really slow – 16kW max. Charge times were going to exceed 30min/stop, so I made the best of it. I rode from Rocky Mount to Emproia VA (Electrify America), Henderson (Electrify America), VIR, Durham, then home. I wasn’t sure that I could make it from Emporia to Henderson, so I took a route that had a Level 2 between the two destinations in Warrenton. I got there and plugged my bike in, it showed the charging screen and then I heard the realy click off and the bike went to sleep as if the charge has finished. Weird, I thought, then I saw the station had no power. Even weirder. Did the circuit breaker pop? The other station was in use by a Ford Fusion Energi, so I had no other option but to drop it in eco and ride carefully to Henderson. I get to Henderson and it’s an ICE show - there’s only one open space, and the charger won’t work. I get on the phone with Electrify America and got the worst customer service agent I’ve ever had. It’s 97F, I’ve got a rude agent, the stations are ICE’d and I can’t easily move between them. Finally, we get a charge going, I only had to park between two other cars. I go inside to cool off and decided that’s it, I’m not going to continue on to VIR - I’m just going to go home. I clocked around 220 miles, and was feeling good despite the trouble in Henderson… until I plugged the bike into my ChargePoint home charger.

I had to edit that, because I was cussing up a storm in the very beginning. So, the bike won’t charge on my home charger…is it an issue with the station or the bike? I head over to another Level 2, won’t charge. Hit up a DC fast, and it charges. Back to the dealer it goes…

I’d like to say they had this sorted out in no time flat, but that’s not the case. I have seriously bad luck: The 4th of July was upon us, and, the FIM MotoE Word Cup inaugural race was on July 7. Between the closings for the US holiday and the engineers being preoccupied with preparing for the first ever MotoE race, I had to wait. and wait. and wait. On top of all of this, David passed away on July 3, and my boss announced his retirement at the end of August. When it rains, it pours, and I don’t always roll well with the punches.

Fast forward to July 25th, the 18th Annual Kirby Derby was in two days and they wanted an EV showcase for this years race. I was going to have an electric motorcycle there some way, some how. I messaged the CEO of Energica USA and told him: I know y'all are working hard on a fix to my bike’s AC charging issue. However, I have an EV showcase this weekend at a large city event. I need you guys to either authorize TPS to return my bike to me for the weekend (since it seems evident no repair attempt will happen before next week), or I need an inventory bike to take. TPS says they won’t give it back because Energica may need more diagnostic data. I haven’t ridden since June 27th, please work with me on this. I need my bike for my advocacy and mental health (the later part is not a joke).

I received a quick response - the CEO wanted to talk to the service manager and would get back to me by the end of the day. A few hours later, my friend who works at the dealer texted me and said my bike was being buttoned up and I could get it this afternoon. Score! Even if it won’t AC charge, I can still DC charge it and ride it. I beelined to the dealer after work to pick it up, and was met by their service manager at the door. He told me that when I bring it back, they’re going to crate it and ship it to Italy for the engineers to comb over it. “So don’t bring it back until you’re ready to be without it for a while.” That sucks, but ok, at least my therapy is back. I was not prepared for what happened next.

I have a Nissan Level 1 charger that’s mounted to a post by the street for my Airbnb guests. I decided to document the AC charging failure, so I pulled up to the Level 1 and plugged it in. It started charging. What? I get on the phone with the dealer, and they’re totally confused. They put my old charge controller back in - because the replacement that was sent to them didn’t resolve the issue - so the bike is 100% as it was the day I dropped it off. Personally, I think this issue and the throttle issue are related to the high humidity that my region suffers from. Condensation will develop in places you won’t expect, causing small amounts of corrosion that will cause all kinds of havoc. My bike lives its entire life outside, it is never sheltered. I’m an extreme use case that the engineers probably didn’t account for - chalk it up to being an early adopter. But hey, it works and it’s continued to work.

Hyundai Road Trips

I’ve posted about Cat Rescue using my Hyundai, but I’ve done a lot of other trips with it. I drove out to Salisbury to check on the Greenlots charger out there, we went to Portsmouth VA for a graduation, and several trips to Greensboro and Angier. I’ve got nearly 6700 miles on a car I’ve owned a hair over 86 days as of this writing. I needed something to do while my bike was being repaired, right?

Iron Butt Planning

I have been planning to do an Iron Butt since a fellow NC Energica owner read my IKEA trip blog post. Apparently he had been mulling this over for a while, but was lacking data on how the bike handled successive charges. I provided the missing data, and we began to discuss what a route would look like. I’m not ready to spill the beans on my plan, but, I’m going on record as saying I’m working on it. I have also decided to dedicate this attempt in memory of David, because he was really supportive of the idea when I told him about it in March. I will not be the first to do this, Brandon Miller has already gotten a route approved by the Iron Butt Association and will be attempting the world’s first stock electric motorcycle Iron Butt in California. I messaged Brandon and wished him luck, and that I wanted to break his record. Friendly competition is a great thing! Currently, Terry Hershner is the only electric motorcyclists to hold an Iron Butt title. He accomplished this in 2014 with a heavily modified Zero SR, Brandon and I will be doing it with an off-the-showroom bike. That’s how far EVs have advanced in such a short time, and it’s a mix of the technology of the machine and the charging infrastructure building out that has made this possible.

New Bike Firmware

On Friday August 9, I took my bike up to Team PowerSports to get the firmware updated. The new update changes the charging taper, something I’ve documented on my YouTube channel. Curious to see how it did, I immediately ran over to the Electrify America site by the dealer and plugged in after the update. It was 95F according to the temperature display on the bike, I expected the bike to draw at most 16kW with the air being this warm. Boy, was I in for a surprise!

The new firmware let the bike charge at 20kW with 53% SOC, something I’ve never seen before. It also maintained 14kW up until 98%. The new firmware changes the charging screen layout, and, it starts balancing around 83% instead of at 93%. In further testing, a full charge from 3% to 100% took 39 minutes and 1 second. This is a significant improvement, I’ve charged my bike to full on DC Fast before and it’s taken 45-49 minutes. This is the second firmware update that’s reduced the charging time of this bike, making it even more capable of touring.

10,000 miles in one year

I vowed to put 10,000 miles on this bike in the first year. I wanted to do it to show how far the technology has come, but also how robust the Energica is. I bought this bike on August 16, 2018 - as of this post, I have three days to add 582 miles to my bike. Seems impossible, right? It isn’t. I did 250 miles yesterday, spread out over a few rides in the early morning and early evening. The day before I did 398.1 miles in 12 hours, I have a video coming out about that this week. I wanted to see how I physically and emotionally fared being on the bike for a solid 12 hours (I was going for 16 but cut it short due to the extreme heat). I rode up to Richmond and then down to Smithfield NC, using I-95 for most of the trip. I learned a lot this weekend that will help me achieve my Iron Butt in the fall. But first, I need to achieve my 10,000 mile goal.

[loulicate-recs]

Hello sweet Hanis! I’m so sorry for the delay, but I’m finally back!! I hope you didn’t miss me too much and had a nice December 19th. In a similar fashion, I’m wishing you the best for December 20th. And wow, I didn’t realize we were so close to the end, already! I’ve been working on your gift, and I must say it’s a little bit stressful. I hope it will bring you happiness anyways. I should definitely try to hurry up if I want it to be done on time… And for now, it’s not entirely to my taste so I have a lot to work on!

I’m still sick but a lot better. I probably had a fever last night cause my forehead felt super warm, but I felt incredibly cold. I’m glad I woke up today without feeling like my hands would fall off with how cold I was! Honestly can’t wait to have two functioning nostrils dklsdql and speaking about going to the cinema, I was supposed to go see a movie tonight, but I feel too tired to do so. Having a cold sucks! But no, I usually don’t eat food at the cinema. It has happened I’ve bought popcorn, but it really doesn’t happen often because I thin it’s too expensive for what it usually is. And the feeling of having popcorn stuck in your teeth is the absolute worst, too, idk how I managed to forget it every time. What about you? Homemade snacks like the housewife you are or victim of capitalism? Fond of popcorn? I don’t know how shameful it is to admit, but I’ve actually never seen legally Blond dkjsqhd. When I was 10, I bought the books at a flea market but ended up never reading them because the covers were ugly in my opinion. I know that’s the pettiest reason ever but ten years old me was something else! It’s funny you mentioned HP, as one of my siblings is watching HP at the moment. I think he’s watching the 6th one, though. My favourite one is probably the 3rd one and least favourite one the 4th. Once again, it’s not linked to the quality of the movie but more to the fact that the sibling aforementioned would watch the Goblet of fire every day at some point. Kinda traumatized me. Plus, the only girl sucks at being a witch and the movie makes it seem like the girls of her school are only good at being pretty.

My uni is about 45 minutes away door to door–I have a 10/15 minute walk to the station then a 25 minute ride with the tube and another 5 minute walk to get to uni. Compared to most people in my area, that’s very reasonable. Around here, I think the average time is 45 minutes to an hour so anything around that is considered normal. I’d also say that despite a lot of people complaining about the deficiencies of the public transportations, it works quite well–I’m once again only speaking about my area, as experiences vary from suburbs to suburbs. I think there are enough underground trains too that I usually don’t have to worry about missing one. I just go to the station and if I miss one by a minute then there’ll be another one. I’m always early anyways kdslkqdlsm I think taking the tube is not quite the same as taking a plane! I am 4548646456% more stressed for a long journey than I am when I take the tube. Where have you flown to before?

I can’t believe I’ve given you another clue. At the same time, I thought you already KNEW English wasn’t my first language as I’ve mentioned l live in Europe and in Europe, very few countries have English as their official language (besides the UK and Ireland, I mean). And I also felt like I already had implied I didn’t live there when we discussed the English countryside. BUT anyways I feel like I’m speaking too much and shouldn’t remind you everything I’ve said. And I’ve listened to a video to learn how to speal easy malay and can only say nama saya secret santa <3 saya dari a secret country <3

That’s interesting! Are you planning to get married, someday? I think I’m quite lucky because I don’t feel pressure to marry–not that I don’t want to, I’m just not quite set on that. And it’s not entirely linked to the question before but to you, what’s the ultimate proof of love? And I can definitely relate! I’m always scared I’ll accidentally like one of your posts.

I do celebrate Christmas, though it’s pretty lowkey and entirely unreligious. We exchange gifts, have a nice but not too long meal, and then we’re done before midnight dskqdjsq it’s nice, though as I don’t really like huge gatherings. Too many people makes it a little bit too impersonal for me. Do you? If not, what do you celebrate and if so, what’s your favourite thing about Christmas?

You’re such an older daughter! Trying to live up to expectations and all that jazz. And when I say I sing in the car, it’s just not me putting up a show it’s more like, everyone’s singing together to tunes we listen to as a family dslkdjsq I wouldn’t have the confidence to try and belt otherwise lol. I’m sure you sing really well!!

Maybe I’ll hate US promo a little less for the mere fact it brings you happiness dskdjs I usually don’t love it because it’s very… US like? I don’t know, it’s probably more of a feeling than a real thing. AND I KNOW!!! He’s just there, his face facing the crowd, and hands stroke and pet him gently :( he’s not even fazed! You mentioned how comfy he makes us feel but I feel like it is also true the other way around and that’s super cute :( I’m so deeply sorry you couldn’t see him. I was in a similar predicament for my own show and it took me a while to get used to the idea. Fingers crossed for FITF tour! I have a ticket for the show so I really hope everything goes according to plan for you and me both.

You want me to reveal myself by asking me my star sign, don’t you? I’m not giving it to you but to make it better, I’m gonna tell you I’m a daughter to a cancer father and a taurus mum. I don’t know what you can do with this info, but it’s out. By the way, do you get along with your parents? If it is an uncomfy matter to you, please feel free not to answer!

Sending you kisses and love <3<3<3<3 I still hope it won’t get you sick. It was once again a pleasure reading you :) love you babe and take care! xx

hello hello my santa ♡ hope you had an easier day compared to the previous! i have missed you! forgiving you with a sorry from me for being a day late. i was actually planning to write you back yesterday but then i was so caught up in finishing the gift for my santa baby too and eventually fell asleep while working on it :( i am both blushing and feeling guilty for basically being the reason to your stressful situation, i appreciate how you are trying your hardest and best to gift me when you didn’t even have to! talking to you have felt rewarding to me, you made my days more meaningful for the past few weeks and i cannot ever thank you enough for that. not to be sentimental but with you i feel… listened ♡ regardless of feeling guilty, i am stilll eager to find out what you’re giving me, i KNOW that i will love it and definitely will store it in my core memory!

i am partially happy that you’re feeling better but not entirely recovered! do you have any special coping mechanism to ease your painful state when you’re under the weather? i personally have to eat something spicy just to feel something when i get sick. speaking about nostrils, are you having a flu too? my nostrils get blocked almost every night, i haven’t been able to completely get rid of sinus since my preteen years :/ by the way, how long will it snow there, where you live? and do you often get sick during the cold december? oh no, what movie were you supposed to be seeing :o i completely agree with you about the popcorn part, honestly the first time i went to see a movie at the cinema i found that popcorns during movie was an overrated concept, but sometimes i still bought them because my friends always insisted us to. but most of the times i’d sneak in pretzels or chips from my favourite vendors outside of the cinema. more affordable and fits to my taste. and certainly never a homemade snack for cinema sdfgfj i’m not louis enough for that </3 just like how you were shamed to admit you’ve never watched legally blonde, i am also shameful to admit that i didn’t know it had a book. i think it’s safe to tell you that hp 4 is also my least favourite, it just feels less magical compared to the rest. and let’s not talk about harry’s characterisation being watered down :|

hearing about your routine is fascinating although i don’t how to feel about the 45 minutes journey to class everyday :o and you mentioning that you’re always early… wow. i complain for the stupid 7 minutes walk to my faculty/ or on some days i’d carpool with my friends, if my lecturers cancel the class last minute after i’m already in the class sdgfhd and i even stay in the campus. you are really a dedicate student! how long are your lectures daily on average? i’ve flown to the neighbouring countries before for holidays, have yet to escape asia </3 what about you?

shdjdf i know, i wasn’t meant to say that english is your first language as in you don’t speak another language beside it like the british! because there are some malay friends of mine who have been using full english from the day they were born and only use the malay language when it is necessary. and they claim that english is their first language! that’s what i meant to ask, if you’re one of those people, sorry that it was unclear </3 now I am speaking too much. waa that’s cute! and when you say that again but the ‘secret santa’ and ‘secret country’ are replaced with the actual names >:) i wonder what you first language is, i’ve reached duolingo’s level 3 in french before and maybe that’s the most i’ve learned in one of the many third languages i’ve attempted to learn before lmfao. anyway 3 more days and maybe i’ll find out if it’s french or something else that you speak :3

oh tbh we are the same! i don’t find marriage is something that should be my priority, not now and i don’t think that’s gonna change in the future too, but who knows :) when i talk about possible partner i always envision the idea of me being in a non serious relationship where me and the other person just do, discover and learn new stuff together as we grow. i’ve always liked the idea! though it might also has something to do with me living in a place where i’d be expected to marry only the men if i ever wanted to. and newsflash hanis prefers something else mwah <3 btw, i find your question is kinda hard to answer since i’ve never been in a situation where i love someone too hard (louis look away for awhile) or i am loved romantically. but i think time is quite the mastermind of everything, so i get pretty fond when i see old couples showing their affection towards each other. like imagine all the things you’ve gone though together, physical changed, too many ups and downs and you’re still tied together like the first day you confessed your love to each other?! like what more could you ask in order to believe that you are absolutely loved by your lover? sdgdh am i answering your question by the way?

enlighten me, as i don’t know much about the deeper meaning of christmas apart from what’s been shown in the media and public presentations, is christmas a religious celebration for some? i know this is stupid but i used to think that christmas is to celebrate the arrival of the snow, and it’s probably why christmas is not that big here because we don’t have snow… k1ll 10 year old me. i understand you! well as obvious as it is i don’t celebrate christmas, but i do celebrate the eid. and i guess any celebration can’t escape the huge gatherings :/ i’d sometimes lock myself in the room for awhile if the hosting tired me out. by the way despite not celebrating christmas, i do have a lot of things that i like about it, and one of them is the films <3 because all of them have snow scenes and i just love it sgdhdh, i need to roll on the snow someday. what’s your favourite part about christmas, if there’s not many people in your house?

that sounds like a lot of fun, singing together as a family! mine just be putting on our own headphones because we all have different taste in music.

it IS very US like but i think he does more fun things there? don’t get me wrong it will never be enough to me, he needs better better promo i need him to play more games on the real talk shows and not just singing and more youtube segments. but to me a lot of things he does during UK promo is quite UK fans-centered? i mean it’s great he does all that to get closer to the fans but still! tho i’m not complaining about the content we got from his fitf love performance and the album signings <3 as someone who is neither from the US not the UK i’ll take what i can get! yes, he never fails to mention how thankful he is for the fans, he never forgets! it’s like a mantra coming out out from his mouth to call the fans incredible eeee he’s too cute :( “thank you for letting me make the kind of music that i want to make” well thank YOU for making the kind of music that i want you to do and that i want to hear??? one day i’ll eat him i promise. omg you got a ticket? for the europe date i assume? you will meet him you will nothing’s coming in your way i am praying on both of my knees! so happy for you ♡

yah actually :3 but i failed dang! a taurus and a cancer, sounds like a perfect pair! would you say your parents share the same personality or more like a pair of opposite attract? i have a good relationship with my parents but i don’t think we are that affectionate compared to some families. they forgot my birthday this year but since we’re not always that big on birthdays it didn’t affect me that much. i personally get more validation from my dad, and not too often if not never from mum. she is quite strict with us, sometimes i feel like i have a mid mommy issue lol. but thank god my parents actually do co-exist, what i don’t get from my mum i’ll seek from my dad especially when it comes to compliments over something i achieved. but she can be generous on some days! do you get along with both of your parents?

keeping the kisses and hugs deep in my heart! and sending you back, doubled ♡ i saw in your other ask that you’ve been thinking about the reveal day, just want you to know i’m truly excited to find out who you are, whether we’ve talked before this whole secret santa thing or not. are we even mutuals? if yes, how close we were and if not, how could it possible to feel so comfortable talking to you? you don’t have to answer, they’re just my personal monologues. 3 more days! perhaps just 1-2 more letter exchange(s) between us and we’ll meet soon ♡ have a perfect day, love you!

[oz--saffet]

containatrocity​:

“I mean I’d love to stick around, really but I gotta go get Robin from the radio station in a couple hours an’ I kinda wanted to take a little time to myself. And I’m actually lying, because I’ve never once wanted to stay here longer than I have to. I’ll catch you tomorrow.” Wren’s quick to throw her bag over her shoulder, leaving the staff-only area of Food Market with a short wave to her coworker. She’s already got her phone in hand the moment she sets foot on the sidewalk, scrolling through menus of her work schedule, alarms set to remember when to get Robin, when to meet up with their dad at the station- or where he’d be, if not actively working. She’s absorbed in the realization that Duck’s due for a fishing trip- which means she and her brother are bound to be in the house alone together until sun-down. “Dammit, dad.” it’s muttered, a sigh as she slams headlong into somebody walking the other way- phone skittering across the pavement and Wren stumbling backwards. “Oh- oh my God I’m sorry, are you okay!?” She questions, adjusting her bag on her shoulder again- suddenly aware of just how heavy it was. “I should have been looking where I was going.”

Unbeknownst to Wren, of course, a concerning red splatter seems to spread from the pocket of her jeans, crimson and pooling where she’d made impact with the stranger. “Did I hurt you or anythin?!”

....

Asa regretted leaving the Commune the second he stepped foot on the sidewalk. The air felt tepid and uncomfortable, and he was sweltering hot and couldn’t get settled inside. Sometimes he’d sit somewhere else to draw, or make himself useful at the library. Today he was walking with no actual purpose, unsure of the plan. But then he was ambling a little bit, and that made him feel anxious. Where are you going? Someone will think you’re crazy. Walking in circles. Don’t turn around and head back now, someone will notice you made a mistake. Might as well keep walking. You’ll find something eventually. 

So it was in that same vein that he had ended up getting coffee, which did nothing for his nerves and was overall a terrible idea. And then just as quickly he was running into someone- and because of the hard collision, it seemed both of them went tumbling back. Asa hit his tailbone and winced but shook his head quickly. The last thing he wanted was to cause any trouble or draw attention to himself- and somehow he’d managed to cradle his coffee in a weird bent-wrist grip against his chest as he fell. Some had splattered from the top, but most of it was safe. 

“I’m perfectly fine.” Asa explained. A lie, because now his arse hurt, but that was absolutely stupid to complain about. Getting up gingerly, he eased the coffee back to its normal height. “Are you- oh god, I apologize, you’re-” Asa saw the reddish substance and was briefly horrified before he quickly realized it wasn’t blood- the color was too vibrant and almost pinkish and Asa had seen a bit too much of the real stuff to not know the difference by now. The man actually laughed, a hand on his chest. “You scared the shit outta me. Thought I’d have to patch you up too.”

[dycefic]

Have An Evil Day

No prompt this time, just a sequel to ‘Welcome To Evil-Mart’

Working at Evil-Mart is usually… well, it’s retail. It’s physically exhausting, you have to deal with a lot of idiots without being overtly rude, and your feet hurt. Even though the hours and pay are very good, the benefits are great, and our bosses treat us well compared to most retail employees, it’s still not what I’d call a fun job.

But it’s not what I’d call dull, either. Especially not on days like today.

I was promoted to supervisor after the Food Poisoning Incident, so I have a little more authority and a little less obligation to be pleasant and I got issued a weighted cosh because sometimes Evil-Mart customers get… feisty. I’d never had to use it, though, because those who hadn’t seen what I did to Majority Rules, either in person or on one of the cell-phone videos that circulated afterwards, had at least heard about it.  They didn’t give me any trouble.

I was halfway through my shift, and the worst things that’d happened had been running out of croissants and a machine oil spill in Aisle Seven, when our greeter pressed the alarm button, which sent an alert to my handset. As front-end supervisor, that meant me, so I went over. Sam, who is unusual in the henching community for having actually aged out rather than ‘being retired’ jerked his chin in the direction of a tall, swaggering figure. “He just came in,” he whispered.

I did a full double-take before I took it in. Superdyne. Fucking Superdyne.

We’d all heard about his dramatic heel-turn a couple of months ago. The whole world had heard about it. Superdyne, who’d skated closer and closer to the line for years, had decided to cross it in a blaze of bloodshed. He was a villain now, he said. There’d been a whole speech about how ingratitude had driven him to it blah blah blah.

I work at Evil-Mart. I’m from a hench family. If someone becomes a supervillain because they hate Mondays or want to turn us all into dinosaurs or whatever, I don’t judge. I will sell depth-charges and laser guns to anyone who can prove they’re over eighteen without hesitation. But even we get kind of grossed out by the ‘I am forced to turn evil because I haven’t been given enough love’ thing. People who are actually so fucked up by emotional abuse or neglect or some superhero killing their family, we’re fine with them. But they don’t say that’s why they do it, and most of them need a lot of therapy to even realize it. People who actually say that’s why are entitled dickwads.

And now the dickwad had walked into Evil-Mart like he was entitled. Like he thought he was one of us.

“Lockdown protocols,” I told Sam quietly. “On my authorisation.” That takes a minute or two, though, so I went over to talk to Superdyne. “Sir, I have to ask how you even knew where to find this place.”

He smirked at me. “I have my ways,” he said smugly. He’d either bribed or beaten someone, that was my guess. “So this is where the villains shop? We all thought you went to Wal-Mart.” He laughed, like he thought it was clever.

“Yes, so you all say,” I said dryly. I didn’t feel like pretending he was the first person to make the bad joke. “My next question, sir, is what made you think it was a good idea to come in here.”

He spread his hands. “I’m one of you now!” he said happily. “I’m a bad guy! So now I guess I shop where the bad guys shop!” He looked around, frowning a little. “Although I was expecting more weapons and explosives. A… more villainous atmosphere. I didn’t know Evil-Mart had fresh produce.”

“I don’t advise buying herbs here unless you’re a magical practitioner. Some of them have… unusual effects.” A lot of our produce is normal stuff, but some of it not only isn’t legal, it doesn’t exist anywhere else.

“Oh. Well, that makes sense. But the bright lights and the bakery?”

“We have excellent gluten-free breads. In many ways, Superdyne, this is just another store. We have sales, we mark down the breads in the afternoon, we even have a PA system.” I pulled out my handset, and thumbed the button that tied it to the PA. “Attention, shoppers,” I said in my most soothing Customer Service voice, which made him grin. “Evil-Mart wishes to inform you – “ The countdown on my handset reached zero, and I turned to look at the entrance as a huge blast door thudded down. That was the last part of the sequence – staff outside the area were already in lockdown and security were on their way. I smiled, and continued almost without a pause. “- That we are in lockdown at this time, due to the presence of Superdyne in the store. Please remain calm, and be advised that security are on their way to deal with the problem. If you have a personal grudge that you wish to address with Superdyne at this time, he is standing near Register Six with a stupid expression on his face.”

He was staring at me, stunned. “But… but…” he stammered, and damned if he didn’t look puzzled. “But I’m one of you now!”

“No,” I said flatly. “You were always evil, that’s true, but you’ll never be one of us. And for the record, I’m one of the people with a personal grudge. All those henchmen you’ve killed and maimed had families, asshole… and they all shop here.”

He swung at me, then, but I spent years in hench training. Even someone super-strong can be dodged, and once I slammed my cosh into his groin a few times his punches got a lot more aimless. Around then, Tiger Ty came over the register, claws out and snarling, and I figured I should stand out of the way.

About ten minutes later, I turned on the PA again. “Clean-up to Register Six,” I called, in the same special voice. “Category 7, class three. Shoppers, please be advised that lockdown is now lifted but Register Six will be closed until clean-up is completed.”

Hunter, who’d been working Register Six, came out from underneath it. He looked a little green. Well, he was still in his teens, this was probably his first fatal mobbing. “What’s Category 7?” he asked in a shaky voice. “I haven’t heard that before.”

“Biohazard.”

“Oh. Class three?”

“Send three people. He was a juicy one.” I stepped away from a spreading puddle of blood. “Run and get a couple of caution signs we can put around this mess.” I eyed it measuringly. “And one of those fifteen-gallon plastic tubs with a lid, I’ll damage it out.”

He eyed the mess. “Are you sure that’s big enough?”

“Yeah, the average human is only about seventeen gallons by volume, and I’m not going to put all the blood and mush in there, just the big pieces.”

He gulped. “Ah. Yes, ma’am.”

I called after him when he ran off. “One of the black tubs, not a clear one!” Which honestly should only be common sense, but you can’t count on a flustered teenager to have common sense.

We frown on killing customers at Evil-Mart, up to a point… but when a particularly murderous super-hero walks into our store, well, that’s something else. I’d have to fill out a ton of paperwork, though.

I had to chase off one of Doctor Malign’s minons and two members of the Genetic Reign before the clean-up crew arrived, both of whom urgently wanted samples. In the end I scraped a few pieces of liver and unidentified organ into two of the bags we use for possibly-contaminated money just to make them go away. (They’re good customers, and it was just going to go in the trash anyway.)

By the time the clean-up was done, all the big pieces were boxed up, and I’d finished the paperwork, my shift had been over for twenty minutes, and I’d been asked to come up to the boss’s office.

“Listen, I have no issues with how you handled the situation, I want you to know that.” Mr Trent leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingertips together. “It was quick, it was efficient, and… given your personal history with Superdyne, not to mention mine and that of half of our customer base… richly deserved.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. It came out too meek, and I cleared my throat and straightened up. It’s hard not to be intimidated by Mr Trent, when you’re in the same room with him. It’s not his fault, and he does his best, but even under the strictest control his fear-inducing powers tend to unsettle anyone who gets too close. We all know he’s not doing it on purpose and we try not to show our reactions. “Do you have any orders regarding the remains?”

“Doctor Order wants them.” He rubbed his chin. “Get someone from the pharmacy to prepare samples for him, please, including brain tissue. He’s our primary supplier, and we can’t offend him. As for the rest… as you know, I’m retired, and I don’t usually participate in the Endless War.” One of his hands dropped to his left thigh. His prosthetic leg is some of Doctor Order’s best work, but the injury that led to his retirement had been brutal even by our standards. “But this is different. Superdyne came here. To our place of safety. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

I nodded. “Do you want the remains dumped somewhere public? Some kind of dramatic display?”

“No. Something more direct.” He rubbed his chin again, then tapped the intercom on his desk. “Iris, please send up Miss Fedorova from Marketing and Mr Levy from the warehouse.”

“Yes, sir,” Iris responded, and he clicked off the intercom again.

“The three of you worked together very well, during the food poisoning incident,” he explained. “And I believe they can assist us in a satisfactory conclusion.” He hesitated, then smiled ruefully. “Perhaps you should wait outside until they get here. I can tell I’m unsettling you.”

“Sir, I know you’re not – “

“Not doing it on purpose.” He sighed. “I do appreciate how hard you all work to make me feel… accepted, I really do. But I’m very annoyed right now, which makes control more difficult for me, so I think we’d both be more relaxed if you waited outside while I do my meditation exercises.”

I waited outside. When the three of us went into his office again, the miasma of low-level fear was definitely a bit lighter, and he smiled. “All right. Now, this conversation is going to be very confidential, and I will remind you all of the agreements you signed when you were employed.” We all chorused agreement, and he nodded. “Good. Now, this is very much a secret, even among Evil-Mart staff, but we do have a few online clients who are… ah… on the other side of the fence.”

Ms Fedorova blinked. “What?”

Knuckles sighed. “We ship to a few heroes,” he explained. “The ones who are… less homo than sapiens, if you get my drift.”

I didn’t, and from her expression Ms Fedorova didn’t either. Mr Trent spread his hands, drawing our eyes to his fingers. Which as a rule nobody looks at, because there’s fourteen of them, with four joints in each finger, and we know he’s self-conscious about it. “The less… purely human ones,” he said quietly. “One of the reasons I created Evil-Mart was to give those who can’t pass for human, like me, a place to be… people. To have dignity. So that the obligate carnivores weren’t reduced to living on pet-food or scavenging for scraps, so that those with complex metabolisms could get the supplements they need so that people who are still people, for all their outward differences, could shop in safety. There are a great many more monsters, demigods, abominations of science and other non-standard persons among our set than among the heroes, and I wanted to meet their needs, as well as selling weapons and Lair-away-from-home sets and so on.”

“And there are a few heroes who order from us for that reason,” Knuckles added. “The ones who can’t get medications to suit their metabolism, or need to eat things that you can’t get easily anywhere else.”

I nodded, because that much I understood. We have some very esoteric ‘dietary supplies’ that start with fresh, healthy, well-treated and disease-free prey animals frozen whole (from mouse up to calf and goat kept in stock, larger sizes by pre-order, halal and kosher certified where possible) and end with human blood (rejected blood bank stock mostly, we have an arrangement), and human flesh and organs (sourced from hospitals, morgues and crematoriums, guaranteed no murder, at least not by us). “Well, I suppose that makes sense. I’m surprised we ship to them, though.”

“Oh, they don’t know we know. It’s all assumed names and secret bank accounts.” Knuckles grinned. “But Mr Trent has all our online customers identified before we ship. And for the ones who don’t have any other options, well… we let it slide.”

“I can see why you don’t want that to get out.” Ms Fedorova tapped her chin. “What does this have to do with disposing of the body? I was planning to set up a really ghoulish display in a public place somewhere, I already have some sketches.” Marketing for Evil-Mart is… well, it includes more than designing our sale flyers.

“No. We’re going to deliver them to a hero… one of the ones who owes us… and make it very clear that just because someone decides to admit he’s a villain, that doesn’t make him one of us and it doesn’t entitle him to union services,” Mr Trent said flatly. “I want to make it crystal clear to all of them that a heel turn does not mean their sins are forgiven, or that we will accept them as anything other than a very brief amusement.”

Late that night – we were all on overtime, but it couldn’t be done in daylight – we wheeled a cart down the run-down hallway of a shoddy apartment building. “This is a terrible address for a hero,” Ms Fedorova muttered. “Are we sure he lives here?”

“I deliver here a couple of times a month.” Knuckles was pushing the cart. “I’m sure.”

“Okay.” Ms Fedorova cleared her throat, coughed once or twice, and suddenly her voice was deeper and her very faint Russian accent was as thick as pea soup. “This is intimidation tactic,” she said, grinning toothily. “Do not act surprised.”

I knocked on the door, but let Knuckles do the talking. “Delivery, Mr West,” he called, using the fake name the guy had been giving.

It worked… the door was unlocked and opened almost immediately. “I scheduled the order for next – “ the mark said, and then we were pushing inside, slamming the door behind us.

“Do not be alarmed, Mr… Dinoid, is it?” Ms Fedorova said, folding her arms. “Evil-Mart is knowing all along your real identity. But you are needing to eat, and we are not turning down regular business, so we make no trouble.”

Knuckles rolled his eyes behind her back at how much she was hamming it up, but I waved a hand. Let her have her fun. So Knuckles started unloading the boxes onto the table while she talked. “First, your Budget Bunny Box. Your favourite, da?” The next box, smaller, plunked down. “Two fresh chickens, halal certified, healthy and having lived good life, gift for good customer.” Knuckles dumped the plastic tub on the floor. “And mortal remains of Superdyne, with note.”

Dinoid was staring at us, but that made him shift into a combat stance, his long claws spread. “The… Superdyne’s dead? And in there?”

“Well. Most of him. The big pieces.” Ms Fedorova shrugged an impressively Russian shrug. I hadn’t even known that was a thing, but when she did it, it was obvious. “You must understand, when a mob tears a man apart, it is hard to find every little piece.”

“I’m pretty sure Doctor Malign and the Genetic Reign took off with doggy bags,” I said, as if I hadn’t handed them over myself. “And Doctor Order probably has some of him too, by now. So looking out for clones would be a good idea, I don’t know if that’s in the note.”

Insofar as that reptilian face could show readable expressions, he looked shocked. “Why on earth would… why? He changed sides? And why did you bring him to me?”

“We know your address, we know you don’t want to turn us in because we’re the only ones who can supply your meals, and our boss wanted us to make this very clear.” I indicated the note. Since Ms Fedorova was hamming up her Sexy Russian Supervillain act, and Knuckles was very obvious Muscle, I figured it was on me to be the Reasonable One. “He might have stopped being a hero, but that didn’t make him one of us. That didn’t make him acceptable to us. Our boss wants it made very clear that your failures shouldn’t expect to be accepted by us… or even spared by us.”

He shifted slowly, the tip of his tail twitching. “I… see. I understand why you would reject Superdyne. He was notorious for killing and maiming people on… your side. But I know other defectors have been accepted. Philomel, for example.”

“Philomel was child of villains. She is young, she is rebellious, she sides with heroes for a while.” Ms Fedorova shrugged. “Is understandable, da? The young do foolish things. She comes home, all is forgiven.”

He nodded slowly. “Tenebrous?”

“That story I don’t know.” Ms Fedorova glanced at me.

I nodded. “Tenebrous was just a kid. He was twelve when Varide recruited him. Nineteen when he broke with the guy. Varide put a kid into combat, left him with massive PTSD, then ditched him when he had a breakdown and went too far. Mx Frantique at least made sure he had a safe place to stay and some therapy.”

“It’s happened a few times.” Knuckles rested his elbows on the cart’s handles, his inhumanly big, strong hands dangling. “But there’s a process. A system. If someone’s sponsored by a villain in good standing, like Frantique sponsoring Tenbrous, they can be accepted. Nobody gets to just choose to join. Especially not a smug, entitled prick like Superdyne.”

Ms Fedorova suddenly leaned forward, scowling. “And why are you called Dinoid? You are not dinosaur. You are clearly monitor lizard. Golden monitor, I think.” She reached out and prodded his arm. “And not healthy, either. Look at colouration! You do not keep environment humid enough. Are having trouble with shedding, da?”

Now we were all staring at her. “You’re a lizard expert now?” Knuckles asked.

She shrugged. “What? Is hobby. Mamma’s little Varanus Acanthurus are pride and joy. Sadly, cannot keep larger monitors in city. Is unkind.”

Dinoid ran a hand over his head slowly. “Not many people realize,” he said slowly. “That’s why I order from you guys. I used to get frozen… food… from a pet supplier, but then I got contacted by someone who told me there was another option.”

“Is good thing. Those pet suppliers, they are rogues. They do not keep animals healthy, can get diseases or mites from those things.” Ms Fedorova sniffed. “I would never buy from them. My babies would get sick.”

He actually chuckled, then, seeming to relax a bit. “You’re not wrong. After… this happened… I got really sick a couple of times before I figured out what to eat, and where to get it. And even the reputable suppliers don’t always have the healthiest stock.” He opened his mouth wide, making a gagging noise. “You have no idea how bad that ‘reptile food’ is. Eating whole animals may be a little disgusting, but it’s nothing to some of that stuff.”

“I believe it,” I said emphatically. “There’s a reason Evil-Mart has such an extensive pet-food line. The horror stories we hear from some of our customers… well, you’d believe it, I bet, but most humans just look confused.”

Knuckles nodded, and spread his hands. “People who can’t pass for regular humans… or even for people, the way most normies see it… are a lot more common on our side of the fence than yours. That’s why we delivered to you. We figured you really needed it.”

“Does he order from the pharmacy?” Ms Fedorova was around behind him now, examining his back. “He is having calcium deficiency, am betting. He needs nutritional supplement.”

“I take a nutritional supplement,” he said defensively.

“The one for normal-sized lizards is not enough for man-sized monitor/human hybrid,” she said firmly. “Check pharmacy section next time. We are having excellent selection of supplements for hybrids, and chart to tell you how much to take for body-mass.”

He looked back and forth between the three of us. “You people are… not what I would have expected from an evil supermarket.”

“We may be… morally challenged,” I said, shrugging, “but we’re not heartless.” I looked around his tiny, shabby apartment. “Unlike some of your lot. I thought you were on a team. Why are you living here?”

He ducked his head. “I couldn’t live at the base,” he said, his tail drooping. “My… I made people uncomfortable. And the stipend isn’t much.”

“Isn’t much? With the merchandising deals they have?” Ms Fedorova sounded shocked, and the accent had dropped back a lot. “I know for a fact that if the accountants ever got hold of their books they’d owe more in back taxes than… well, than Evil-Mart would if our illegal product arm ever got discovered. And we pay our taxes on the legitimate stuff scrupulously.”

Dinoid blinked rapidly, though I couldn’t tell whether he was more surprised by her suddenly dropping her act or the idea that Evil-Mart pays taxes. “You do?”

“Of course. Not under that name, of course, there’s a shell company.” She sniffed. “All villains do. Al Capone, you know. We’re not getting caught that way again.”

Knuckles and I both nodded when he looked at us, and he shook his head. “Huh. Makes sense, I guess.”

“It does.” I looked around again. The place really was crappy. “I know it’s a personal question, Mr… West, but under the circumstances I’d like to know… how much is that stipend?”

He looked down at the floor for a while, then cleared his throat. “Uh. $1100 a month.”

We all stared at him. Ms Fedorova’s mouth fell open. Knuckles looked shocked, and I was horrified. “$1100 a month?!” I asked, my voice coming out louder than I’d intended. “For risking your life on a superhero team?! I have teenaged cashiers working part-time who make more than that!”

He looked almost as startled as we did. “For working a cash register?!”

“Evil-Mart pays pretty good.” Knuckles shrugged. “But that stipend is disgusting.”

“You are being exploited,” Ms Fedorova said, sounding really aghast. “That is terrible. Why, baseline henchman pay is twice that, and there are danger bonuses and…” Her voice dropped suddenly. “You don’t have a union, do you?”

“A union? Of course we don’t have a…” He trailed off. “You mean you do?”

“Of course we do. An extremely well-armed one.” Ms Fedorova folded her arms. “Henchmen And Allied Industries has represented us for generations. The last time a supervillain executed a union henchman for failure, he was boiled in oil… literally. On camera. Oh, of course some of the less reputable villains just pick up small-time trash from the streets, untrained rabble from the gangs and so on, so they can treat them as disposable, but we union members are skilled workers, with rights and protections. I bet you don’t even get overtime.”

“Of course not. Crime happens when it happens, and we have to…” He trailed off. “You guys get overtime?”

“We’re getting double time and a half for this conversation. And an extra day off.”

His eyes widened again. “Really? Wow, that’s… even when I was working a regular job, before this, I didn’t get pay like that.” He looked down at his hands and bared his teeth in what looked like an unhappy expression. “And now I can’t work anything but this kind of job. People don’t like having a scary dinosaur in their restaurant.”

There was a long pause.

“You can cook?” Ms Fedorova asked carefully.

“Yeah. I worked in my parents’ restaurant before… this.” He gestured at himself. “They were killed when we were attacked, and I was… changed.”

We all looked at each other. “After you’ve returned Superdyne’s remains to whoever you consider appropriate,” I said, grabbing a notepad and scribbling down my number, “I’d like you to give me a call. Evil-Mart is always hiring in the bakery and deli, and I mean always. Most bad guys aren’t great cooks. We don’t know why, it just seems to be one of those things.”

“You want me to join the bad guys?”

“I want you to work in a bakery. Villains and henchmen need to eat, and so do their families. Nobody’s going to ask you to rip superheroes in half, just maybe make a sandwich that won’t give anyone food poisoning.”

“That’s a regular concern?”

“Six months ago the three of us ran Evil-Mart’s physical store completely unassisted for most of a day because the only people who weren’t down with food poisoning were the ones who’d had the vegetarian and kosher meals.” I shuddered at the recollection. “Trust me. Someone who can cater staff functions without a major disaster would never have to live in an apartment like this working for us.”

“And we get full benefits, including dental.” Knuckles was shaking his head. “I bet you don’t even get hospital.”

“What hospital would take me? I always figured I’d go to the zoo and talk to the vet if – “

Ms Fedorova actually put her arms around him. “You,” she told him firmly, “are going to resign your terrible exploitative job, and then I will personally sponsor you to the union immediately. I have a spare room. You will like it. Humidity and temperature can be set just how you like, and Mamma Yelena will take you to real doctor expert in health of hybrids.”

“Those exist?” he asked, sounding a bit overwhelmed.

“Yeah, the Genetic Reign has like three of them,” I said sympathetically. “Listen, you can take some time to think it over, but you don’t have to put up with this kind of exploitation just because you don’t look human. Nearly a third of Evil-Mart’s staff can’t pass, and they’re treated just like everyone else.”

Superdyne’s dramatic demise got a lot of news coverage. Apparently it came as a real shock to the ‘good guys’ that there were some monsters even the superest villains wouldn’t embrace.

Dinoid no longer exists. Ismail Jameel works at Evil-Mart, and has expanded our fresh food lines a lot already. He’s a nice guy, and after Ms Fedorova told everyone how disgustingly he’d been exploited by those so-called ‘heroes’, he was welcomed with open arms. Literally, in at least one case – he’s dating someone from the warehouse, I’ve heard, though I don’t know who. He says we should rename the store, because we suck at being evil.

But evil is a really relative term. It can mean the blackest depravity, or a moment of viciousness, or even just ‘people on the other side’. Evil-Mart is called that because everyone, at least everyone on our side, is welcome. Plus, we all think it’s funny that the least-evil megacorporation is called ‘Evil-Mart’. What can we say? Bad guys have a sense of humour too.

Have an evil day!

[moemoemammon]

Following that "least favorite" request could we get their reactions to being to told that they're their favorite, but to not tell the other brothers so their feelings don't get hurt? Maybe because they relate to them the most or just get along really well. Thanks!

You're My Favorite! But Don't Tell the Others-

(Feat. GN!MC and the Demon Bros)

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Lucifer

There are no words to explain the overwhelming satisfaction ion Lucifer’s face after you tell him that. Of course, it’s only natural that he would be your favorite, all things considered.

The Avatar of Pride won’t ever forget this moment. He carefully considers your words and agrees not to tell anyone, as much as he’d love to bring it up, because he knows more than anyone what kind of chaos would ensue should the others (especially Mammon) find out.

But they can tell something’s up when the eldest has been heard humming all day. He moves about the house with even more grace than usual, and hasn’t scowled even once.

But the REAL shocker was when Mammon tried hiding a bill right as Lucifer walked in... and the eldest let him off with a warning. A WARNING! The brothers thought the Devildom must’ve frozen over, but you and he knew different.

“MC, I would like you to accompany me to Le Pluvier this afternoon, once you've finished your studies. I've already made reservations, so be sure to get ready on time. I've made sure to consider the things you might like to eat, so I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. Don't be late." "...I'm grinning? I don't know what you're talking about."

Mammon

The gigantic grin on Mammon’s face is so bright, it could rival the sun. You’ve seriously made his day. No, his year. Actually, he’s pretty sure he could ride this high for the next millennia! There’s nothing in this world that could dampen his spirits right now! 

He feels like he just won big at the casino! Of course he’s your favorite! He WAS your first demon, and now he’s gone and claimed his rightful spot as your number one! Good luck trying to keep him from saying anything. Mammon’s gonna throw it around in everyone’s faces for as long as he can milk it.

And you thought he was clingy before, just wait till you see how he treats you after hearing that. Despite always calling you his ‘servant’ or his ‘human’, you’d  think your roles were reversed. Mammon spoils you every chance he gets, buying you clothes and trinkets, filling the spaces in your room with the things he knows you like, monopolizing you completely until nearly everything you own is a gift from him.

Your words also help soothe that jealousy of his a little. Only a little, though. It’s easier to watch you talk to other demons when he knows he’ll always be your first man.

“Didja really have to stay after class that long? I know you were talkin' to that demon that lent you a book, but you outta ask ME for stuff! Tch... you're lucky I'm in a good mood today! But I guess I don't have to worry about some low level demon like that, seein' as I'm your favorite!"

Levi

Wait wait wait....Come again? Did you seriously just say what he think you said..? That had to be a mistake! Some kind of...uh..verbal typo! Because there’s absolutely, positively, NO WAY in all of the nine layers that he could be your favorite demon. And yet you still insist that you’re telling the truth, and Levi feels like he’s died and gone to heaven. 

Red faced and stammering up a storm, Levi looks like he might die. Is it really okay for a shut-in otaku to feel this giddy? Seriously, he hasn’t felt like this since he got his hands on a signed copy of a Ruri Hana audio drama! No no, this definitely beats that!

You’ve managed to inflate his nearly nonexistent ego, and now he feels like there’s nothing he can’t do! Maybe he could even go to Majolish right now?? THAT’S how good he’s feeling!

Almost as bad as Mammon in keeping it a secret. He doesn’t tell anyone right away, but they’re suspicious when they notice how much time he’s spending out of his room. And then when he and Mammon get in another petty argument, he drops the bomb that he’s your favorite demon in the entire Devildom, and you can guess how things go from there.

“Uuuoooo...!!!!! I've decided..! Since I've got a serious stat buff, I'm going to open a booth at the next convention coming up..! I'll sell my Ruri-chan fan art and spread her influence all over the Devildom! I'd never have the guts to do it normally, but I feel like I could do anything right now! Y-you'll go too, won't you MC?"

Satan

You nearly made this man spit tea all over his book, and now he’s coughing and spluttering and trying to figure out what could’ve prompted what he’s taking as a confession. You.. do realize what you’re saying, don’t you? And you know the kind of effect your words have on him?

Satan isn’t the type that wears his heart on his sleeve, so you have to look for his subtle expressions to tell how he’s feeling. But there’s nothing subtle about the redness of his ears and how he’s begging you not to look at him right now. For the sake of his sanity, give him a minute to recoup.

When he does recover, he agrees to keep it a secret for obvious reasons. And it’s hard to tell that he’s in a good mood, other than the fact that he hasn’t tried to pull any pranks on Lucifer lately. But Asmo sees all, and literally hounds him into spilling the tea.

He tells him a lie of course, but now the other brothers are noticing just how happy he is. Satan's smiling way too much today, isn't he? And he didn't even get mad when Beel got whipped cream on his jacket! Well, not THAT mad, anyway.

"Haaah... everyone's been harassing me all day, claiming I'm smiling a lot. I'm sure I look the same as I always do, but I'll admit that I've been happy ever since you told me that this morning. Wait.. you did think I've been grinning too, do you? I have??"

Asmo

Asmo always jokes about being your favorite and announces it as if the two of you are married, but when you actually confirm that his longing for you isn’t one sided, he ends up smearing lip balm across his cheek in shock. Did you... really say that just now? He knew it all along, but hearing it like that is just...!

Ooooh, he’s so happy he can hardly contain himself! Asmo throws his arms around you, peppering your face in kisses until you feel sticky from lip balm, wipes your face clean, then marks it up all over again. Good luck getting rid of him, because he might never let go.

Immediately posts it to Devilgram. Did you really think he’d let such a momentous occasion go unannounced? You must not have been paying attention to the kind of person he is! Asmo would put you on a pedestal in front of the world like a precious jewel if he were able, but this’ll have to do. He won’t hide his love at all!

Of course, the others don’t take too kindly to it, not that he cares. He never leaves your side, pampers you like crazy, and has even attempted to get you to move into his room. Lucifer put an immediate stop to that, though. Boo...

“I just can't get enough of you, MC! Just being near you gets me so excited that I can hardly stand it! You'll take responsibility for what you're doing to me, won't you? And in exchange, I'll take my time showing you just how much I love you. After all, you're my favorite, too!"

Beel

Beel never has a problem with choking while he eats, and it comes as naturally as breathing. Unfortunately neither of that applies right now, since you just made him choke on a meatball sub.

He usually takes your words with quiet acceptance, but this might be the most emotion you've ever witness from the stoic demon. His eyes are wider than that time that laid on an entire gingerbread mansion, sparkling up with such deep emotion you wouldn't be surprised if he cried. Instead he softens up and immediately embraces you.

...And doesn't let go. Sandwich long forgotten, he's been carrying you around all day, and ignoring any questions or protests from his brothers. Also insists on feeding you throughout the day. The food tastes better when he can enjoy it with you, so why not just bring you everywhere?

When he isn't carrying you, he's following you around subconsciously, either close up against you like a protective wall, or just far enough that you're within his line of sight. As far as not telling anyone, he... tells Belphie immediately. It was an accident though, since there's not much he keeps from his twin.

"MC, I won a meal ticket for Godevil Chocolatier. Let's get something for dessert today. Ah, you can get as much as you want, too. I really want to see what things you choose. They might become my favorites."

Belphie

There's nothing in this world that can wake Belphegor from his sleep, unless he allows it. No loud noises, no amount of shaking or smacking, and not even dragging him around the house. But the moment you whisper that he's your favorite demon, the Avatar of Sloth is wide awake.

Hey, you're not just saying weird things to get a reaction, are you? Because if so, this is a new level of cruel. Yet you confirm that you mean it and swear him into secrecy, and Belphie tries his best not to show how happy he is. A smile keeps creeping up on his face that he struggles to force down. It's annoying...

As funny as it’d be to tell everyone the news, he's good at keeping secrets. Instead, you've noticed that he's been sleeping a little less that before. When he does take one of his hundreds of naps, he finds some way to be closer to you. He's even been seen sleepwalking to your exact location somehow-

It's hard for him to believe that you're not teasing, though. How could HE be your favorite demon here? Belphie doesn't do anything special to win you over, yet after everything he put you through, you like him enough to deep him your favorite?

"You're weird, MC. I mean... me? I won't deny that I'm really happy though, but I guess I'm in disbelief. You should spoil me even more until I believe you. Lend me your lap for a few hours, okay?" "...I wonder what Lucifer would think if I told him, heheh."

[wooahaes]

Hihi ! Congrats on hitting 1k 😊 I love reading your stories. I can't wait to read more ! 💕

I was wondering if I could request Hoshi with 49+50 ? 😅😊💕

I hope you had a great day today btw ! 💕

young love

pairing: non-idol!hoshi x gn!reader

word count: 0.7k~

warnings: n/a just fluff >:3 and also intentional lowercase + no proofreading.

daisy’s notes: aaa thank you nonny!! i hope u also have a great day <3

you were positive that soonyoung was on a mission to be the cutest man you had ever dated.

the past few dates were cute--the amusement park was fun, especially when he was holding your hand the entire time; the cat cafe (there was an orange cat his friend showed him once and he knew he wanted you to see him) was cute, especially when you caught the lovestruck look in his eyes when you were busy petting cats and talking to him about music; and the aquarium was great because there was something breathtaking about seeing him bathed in blue light, completely happy and in awe at some of the world’s creatures. most of your other dates were simple lunch dates, or meeting up for coffee and going for a walk together. over a month and a half into your relationship, he had treated you to dinner, bashfully holding your hand after he finally worked up the nerve to ask you again. the two of you were taking things slow (as a mutual request that he initially brought up--he hadn’t dated much in college, and you were the first person he felt serious about in a while), so you were happy to do things as they felt right.

the walk after your dinner hadn’t been planned, actually. he just wanted to spend more time with you. yet you saw him glance at his phone, realizing how late it was getting.

“can i walk you home?” he asked. normally, soonyoung would call a taxi for you--just to give you a little more privacy about where you lived. once he had walked you to a convenience store in the same general area as your apartment, watching you walk off before waving and telling you to text him when you were home. this was another step forward.

you liked it a lot. so you intertwined your fingers with his and smiled, “you may.”

you liked the happy way he lit up whenever you were affectionate with him, and the tiny glance he stole toward your hands was equally adorable. it always felt like he couldn’t believe that you were there with him, or that you’d want to hold his hand (or kiss his cute face--but he hadn’t worked up the nerve to that one yet).

“i really like going out with you,” he said, thumb running over the back of your hand. “and i was thinking... can we... be official?”

this man as trying to kill you. you were positive of it. the cute way he kept glancing up at you, too flustered to just let the question sit for more than a few seconds.

“you don’t have to answer--”

“i’d like that,” you cut him off, swallowing your own flustered feelings hard. if one man could make you tongue-tied...

he was smiling. “really?”

“do you want to?” you asked. when he nodded eagerly, you squeezed his hand, “then i do, too. i like the idea of calling you my boyfriend.”

soonyoung was brimming with excitement, mumbling that he was yours under his breath. he immediately started rambling about something else, about how he’d been wanting to ask you for the past week but he didn’t want to just do it over text because that’s rude, right? he should ask you properly. face to face after a nice date. that’s why he wanted dinner to go well and why he took you to his friend’s restaurant (he’d introduce you to mingyu properly sometime), because he knew things would be great food-wise. it was cute to watch him go from the cute, quiet soonyoung who’d sometimes light up with excitement over things he liked (like tigers and music and dancing) to loud, talkative soonyoung who was definitely rambling because he was so giddy.

he had walked you to your door, saying he’d text you later once he was home. he drifted away, taking a few steps back while still smiling at you before he turned to leave.

it wasn’t until you were letting yourself into your apartment that you heard his running footsteps returning to you.

“i forgot something.” he stood there, uncertain. “i...”

“this?” you tapped your cheek. “you forgot this?” 

he smiled, eyes practically glimmering with joy. he immediately leaned into kiss you on the cheek, pulling away after a few seconds. “goodnight,” he said, smiling like an idiot as he watched you disappear into your apartment.

he was just glad you couldn’t see him softly go “yesss!” to himself as he turned, already calling jihoon to tell him that he did it and didn’t chicken out again.

[endless-summer-soldier]

you see me - chapter three

pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

summary: Bucky has grown used to a life of solitude after a mysterious accident leaves him forgettable. every person he comes in contact has no memory of him the moment he walks away. until he meets a cute girl at a record store who actually remembers him.

warnings: alcohol, sex (minors do not read), slight mentions of depression

word count: 4k

taglist: @sebsgirl71479

series playlist

series masterlist

a/n: I know that I haven't posted in a while, lots of life changes going on (all good ones!). I'm hoping to get back into a rhythm again with posting and writing!

X

He woke up feeling more rested than he had in a long time. And there she was curled up into his side, sleeping like an angel. He wanted to savor this moment for as long as he could. There was a part of him that was scared she would wake up and forget who he was. It had happened to him with hookups before and there was nothing worse than the confused looks on their face when they realized there was a stranger with a bionic arm in their bed. 

He felt her stirring and tried to remain still so as not to wake her. But her eyelids inevitably fluttered open and her gaze landed on him.

“Hey stranger,” she said with a smile. Bucky froze for a moment, concerned that maybe she didn’t know who he was. But then she leaned toward him and pressed her lips to his before she added, “I like waking up next to you.”

“That makes two of us.”

She cuddled in closer to him and played with the dog tags hanging from his neck.

“You still wear these?” she asked him.

He nodded, “Reminds me of where I came from. And who I was before…everything happened.” 

“Keeps you humble?” she asked.

“Something like that,” he murmured. In reality, his dog tags were more than that. They symbolized the deal he had made. Bucky knew it was only a matter of time before he would have to tell her the truth about his situation. But he would put that off for as long as possible because he was worried he would lose her. For now, he wanted to enjoy the time he had with her.

“So, what should we do today?” she asked.

X

It seemed like Bucky and Y/N spent every moment together since then. Bucky would walk Y/N to work and then pick her up at the end of her shift. He had to get creative to keep up the charade that he lived a normal life. It didn’t take long for Y/N to ask for his number and when he said he didn’t have a phone, she looked at him like he had six heads. He chalked it up to “being off the grid,” and she warily accepted his rationale. He understood her concern, she was worried he would disappear, but he tried to ease those thoughts by seeing her every day. 

On this particular night, Bucky met Y/N at the record shop as she was closing up. 

“Hey cutie,” she said as he walked in the empty store. She greeted him with a smile and a kiss.

“Hey there, gorgeous. How was your day?”

“Much better now that you’re here.”

“You hungry?”

“Ugh yes! I’m dying for some wings,” she gathered her things from behind the counter and Bucky smiled to himself. He loved how different she was from any other girl he had dated. He was brought back to his years in high school when his dates would barely touch their food, too concerned with their image. Y/N loved food and thought that sharing meals was the best way to connect. They strode hand in hand to the bar around the corner where they planned to have a few drinks and some food before heading home.

Y/N insisted on sitting at the bar so they could watch the Cubs game and Bucky ordered them a few light beers.

“So I was thinking…maybe we could stay at your place tonight,” she said, before taking a sip of beer.

“Oh no, you don’t want to see my place.”

“I do though. I wanna see where you spend your time when you’re not with me.”

“I really don’t spend that much time at home. I prefer to be out and about.”

“Come on…just this once. Let me stay over.”

“It’s just…” he struggled to come up with another excuse, “It’s not in the best part of town. I’d rather keep you away from that.”

Her face changed and he couldn’t quite read her expression, “Oh…okay.” She didn’t press the issue, but he could tell she wasn’t completely satisfied with his answer.

Before he could say more, a plate of steaming buffalo wings was placed in front of them and Y/N’s eyes lit up. Bucky was relieved at the distraction, but there were knots in his stomach that continued to form the longer he kept his secret.

Y/N was pulled from the wings when her phone rang. She looked confused and quickly wiped her finger tips before she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“Oh it’s Ellie. Sorry, she never calls me.”

She answered the phone and after a few seconds her face changed to panic. “Shit, I forgot. Okay we’ll be there within the hour,” she said. He heard her friend respond and Y/N added, “Yes, I am bringing a boy.” She smiled over at Bucky and he called over the bartender for the check.

“So where are we going?” he said.

She let out a sigh, “I may have forgotten that I was invited to a dinner party at my friend’s tonight. And I’m supposed to bring dessert.”

“Let’s get to it then.”

“Are you sure it's okay? I’ve been dying to introduce you to my friends but I didn’t want to scare you off.”

The thought hit him like a ton of bricks. He couldn’t meet her friends. Or rather, he would always “meet” her friends every time he saw them going forward. This was the end of their honeymoon phase. He would have to tell her tonight after the party.

X

They walked up the doorstep and Y/N rang the bell several times. She turned back toward him and gave him a big smile before saying, “Don’t worry. Everyone is going to love you.” He gave her a fake smile and tried to swallow his nerves. He wasn’t concerned with making a good first impression. He always had another chance at that. Instead, he was thinking about how he was going to tell the love of his life that he’s been keeping a secret. Soon enough an energetic blonde opened the door and they stepped inside. Y/N made an entrance, apologizing to her friends and she brought the grocery store strawberry shortcake into the kitchen. 

“Oh, everyone this is Bucky! Bucky, this is everyone.” The group of people gave him a series of warm greetings and he responded with a quick wave. They all seemed welcoming enough. Y/N reemerged from the kitchen, took his hand, and led him to the table where bottles of wine were being passed around. She accepted a bottle from one of her friends and filled up their glasses.

Bucky leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “Hey, it’s not a big deal or anything but can we keep me being the Winter Soldier on the DL tonight?”

She turned towards him, reading his expression. “Sure, yeah I won’t say anything. Is there…a reason for that?”

“It just comes with a lot of questions. And that brings back memories I don’t always want to revisit.”

She gave his hand a squeeze and shot him a supportive smile, “Of course. It’ll stay our secret.”

They shared food and Y/N formally introduced him to each of her friends. They were easy to chat with and they expressed interest in Bucky, which made it a little difficult to act as a normal person. He would answer a few personal questions and then change the subject in an attempt to learn more about each of the new faces. 

The hours passed by and the bottles of wine continued to circulate. The night had been filled with great food and a lot of laughs. Seeing Y/N so happy made Bucky happy. Every now and then she would check in on him to make sure he was doing okay. And every time he would smile, nod, and kiss her temple. Once they finished dessert and a few too many glasses of wine, she leaned her head on his shoulder and said, “You ready to head home?”

“Ready if you are.” She nodded and they said their goodbyes and walked home. The moment they walked out the front door, she slithered her arm around his and leaned her head on his shoulder.

“You. Were. Incredible in there!” she gushed. “My friends have never taken to one of my boyfriends so quickly!”

“Really?”

“Yes really! They loved you!”

Bucky was about to replay the night in his head when he realized what she had said moments ago.

“Did you…did you just call me your boyfriend?” he said with a sly smile. She froze and stared up at him, blushing. She tried to hide her smile behind her hands but he pulled them into his own.

“I know we haven’t had that conversation yet, but that’s sort of how I think of you.”

Bucky let out the breath he was holding in and moved his hands up to her face.

“I would be honored to be your boyfriend,” he moved closer to her, connecting his lips with hers in a passionate kiss.

They pulled away and she looked up at him in adoration, “I know this is moving fast but…I’m just really glad I met you.” He gave her a soft smile and kissed her on the forehead.

“I can’t imagine a life without you in it, doll.” He scooped up her hand and they continued walking the next few blocks towards her apartment.

“I want to know everything about you. What���s your family like?” she asked. 

“Well they’re unfortunately dead,” he remarked.

“I know thaaaat,” she retorted, “But what were they like?”

Bucky talked about his family for the remainder of the walk home. About his strained relationship with his father, his adoration for his mother, and the shenanigans he used to get into with his little sister. And then he asked about her family. He knew about her dad but he wanted to learn more about her siblings and her mom. She obliged, growing slightly homesick when she talked about her sisters and her mom, but she was touched that Bucky was so interested.

Soon they reached the apartment and Bucky poured two glasses of water for them as she took off her shoes and jacket. He found her sitting on the couch with a look of adoration in her eye.

“What’s that look for?” he asked her as he placed the water in front of her.

“I’m just so impressed by you.”

“I think you’re just drunk…”

She shook her head with vigor and leaned in closer to him. 

“If I was drunk, would I do this?” she leaned into his neck and lightly sucked on his neck. She planted kisses upwards until she reached his ear. She took his earlobe in between her teeth and lightly tugged before dropping it completely.

“Ooooh. What’s gotten into you?”

“I’d like for you to get into me,” she replied with a sly smile. She stood up from the couch and walked toward the bedroom. Bucky froze, completely caught off guard. He could feel his pants getting tighter as his erection began to grow.

She got to the doorway of her bedroom and there was a mischievous glint in her eyes. She held up a finger and beckoned him towards her. He bolted up immediately and she ran into the bedroom with a giggle. The moment he entered the room his hands were on her hips and she jumped into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms tight around his neck as her mouth found his with a sense of urgency.

He took a few steps towards the bed and carefully placed her on the comforter. She quickly slipped her shirt off and she leaned up on her elbows wearing only a bra and her jeans.

“Take this off,” she said, tugging at his shirt.

“Yes ma’am,” he obeyed, shedding his top layer. She shifted her position so that she was kneeling on the bed, almost eye level with him. She traced delicate fingertips over his metallic shoulder and all the scarring he was left with. She pressed gentle kisses along the scar tissue. Y/N noticed Bucky’s insecurity with his scars the past few weeks. He never said anything, but she picked up on it in his movements. She thought he might be feeling shame about the scars and what they represented. But she thought they were an important part of his story and she didn’t want him to feel self-conscious about that.

“You are perfect,” she whispered, before she kissed him again. Bucky nearly lunged at her with desire, pinning her down on the bed with a rush of passion. He moved his hands down her shoulders, over her breasts, and down her torso towards her hips. He fiddled with the button of her jeans and it came undone easily. She lifted up her hips and he hooked his fingers under the waistband of her jeans and pulled them down her legs. He took a moment to appreciate her form, laying underneath him clad only in a bra and underwear. 

“My god doll, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he confessed. 

Her already flushed cheeks turned a deeper shade of crimson at the compliment. She couldn’t hide her smile as she pulled him closer to her and kissed him with longing. Her fingers made quick work of the button fastening his jeans around his hips and he let them fall to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, she was on top of him, straddling his waist. She sat up and swiftly unhooked her bra as she tossed it to the side. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, studying her perfect form and he ushered her back down towards him, missing the feeling of her lips on his. He ran his left hand up and down her spine, causing her to shiver. Her lips moved to his neck and she slowly moved her lips down his chest and abdomen. She knelt between his legs and ran her hands over his boxers, squeezing his hard-on. He let out a groan and her eyes met his, looking for permission. He gave a slight nod and a devilish smile spread across her face. She carefully pulled down his boxers and his sizable member broke free from the fabric. She ran her hand up and down the shaft, squeezing ever so slightly, and she saw Bucky’s head fall back in delight. She leaned forward and moved her tongue from the base to the tip and Bucky let out another moan. She smiled to herself before taking his full length in her mouth. Bucky ran his fingers through her hair as he enjoyed her warm mouth on her penis. After a few minutes he gently pulled her by the hair up to look at him.

“I’m not gonna last much longer if you keep doing that. And I need to be inside you.” She crawled back on top of him and he kissed her before flipping her onto the bed. He continued kissing her, fondling her breasts before his hand slipped down lower into her folds.

“Baby you’re so wet,” he whispered in her ear. 

“I’m ready for you,” she responded.

“Do you have…”

“I’m on the pill.” Normally Bucky always wore a condom, but he couldn’t wait any longer. And he trusted Y/N.

He lined up at her entrance and looked up at her once more before proceeding.

“James, don’t make me wait any longer.” She didn’t have to tell him twice. He thrust forward into her tight pussy and the pleasure overcame him immediately. 

“Oh my god,” he heard her mutter, her heartbeat quickening. 

“You feel amazing,” he gushed, moving in and out in rhythm. He took one of her legs to rest it against his shoulder as he bent her other leg and held it behind her knee. A guttural moan escaped her lips and it turned Bucky on even more. Her hand crawled down and found her own clitoris, rubbing circles as Bucky picked up the pace.

He pulled out suddenly and her eyes met him immediately, looking for an explanation. He held his member in his good hand, stroking up and down the shaft.

“Flip over,” he instructed. He saw her eyebrow raise and a sly smile spread across her face as she obeyed his request. Once she was face down and resting on her elbows, Bucky straddled her legs and placed his hands on her hips. He slowly guided her hips back and he inched closer, running the tip of his penis through her folds until he found her entrance. He pressed forward and she let out a gasp of pleasure, followed by an “Oh yesssss.”

He took that as encouragement and started thrusting harder, deeper. She became more vocal as her pleasure intensified. And then she arched her back and threw her head back and Bucky thought he might just finish right then and there. 

“I’m not gonna last much longer,” he breathed.

“Me neither,” she barely responded, breath quickening. He could feel her walls closing in on him and he knew she was about to finish. He reached forward and entangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back ever so slightly.

“Yes James! Oh god, yes!” she squealed. All it took was his name on her lips and he was done for. He quickly pulled out of her and his seed steadily flowed onto her back. He fell forward on top of her, holding himself up on his forearms so as not to crush her. His breath was hot on her neck as his face landed right above her shoulder. 

“Holy shit,” she breathed looking at him. He chuckled and planted a kiss on her cheek, then her nose, then her lips.

“Stay right there.” He climbed off her and retreated to the bathroom. He returned to the room with a towel and carefully cleaned her off. She pulled him back into bed and he happily obliged as she cuddled into his chest still working to catch her breath. He held her close, running his fingers through her hair and across her back. They didn’t need to exchange words. There was an unspoken agreement that the sex had been incredible. So they laid there, recovering in tandem. Y/N heard the beating in his chest slow and her breathing returned to normal.

“I think I’m falling in love with you.” The words quietly fell off her lips before she realized what she was saying, but Bucky heard every syllable. His heart rate quickened and when he looked down, her eyes were shut and she was drifting off to sleep. He wondered if she even realized what she said. 

He responded by kissing her lovingly on the forehead. The truth was, he was already in love with her. It had only been a few weeks but he had never felt like this before. He just wasn’t ready to tell her because of all the complications that came with being with him. So he kept his feelings to himself. 

“Goodnight doll,” he whispered eventually. She turned in his arms, facing away from him so he could pull her into him as she formed the perfect little spoon.

X

Bucky awoke with a jolt. He sat up in the bed, panting and covered in sweat. He looked to his side and saw Y/N fast asleep and he let out a deep sigh. It was the first nightmare he’d had since he met her. It wasn’t his usual nightmare though. Usually he was flooded with memories from his time as the Winter Soldier. But tonight, it was Y/N. HYDRA had captured her and was torturing her for information on his whereabouts. And he couldn’t get to her. He could hear her screams, but everywhere he looked, she wasn’t there. It was the worst nightmare he’d ever had. 

As he tried to steady his breath, he couldn’t stop thinking about Y/N and her scream. He had to clear his head. He got up to wash his face in the bathroom, hoping it would help cool him down. After a few splashes of water, he walked to the kitchen for a glass of water that he promptly chugged. He filled it once more and returned to the bedroom, hoping he could catch a few more hours of sleep. 

When he returned to the bed, Y/N leaned up on her elbows and whispered, “Hey.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay. I’m a light sleeper, I felt you get up. Everything okay?”

He settled into the bed and she curled up against him.

“Just a nightmare.”

“You wanna talk about it?” she asked, running her hand up and down his chest.

He shook his head. “There’s no point. I’m just gonna try to fall back asleep.”

She wanted to ask more, to try and get him to open up, but she didn’t press the issue. So she did the only other thing she could think of. 

“Flip over,” she instructed, much like he had earlier that night. He did as she asked, turning so he was facing the edge of the bed.

She moved so that she was flush against him and hooked her arms under his, almost like she was a backpack. She planted a sweet kiss on his shoulder.

“Sweet dreams,” she whispered. He melted in her embrace and shut his eyes, thinking of her.

X

When he woke up the next morning, he was surprisingly well rested. Normally he struggled to fall back asleep following a nightmare. His brain was always afraid that he would be transported into the past. But last night was different. He had someone there to help him, comfort him. 

He turned to plant a kiss on her cheek only to find that she was already awake. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and followed the clattering noises coming from the kitchen. When he reached his destination, he found Y/N in his T-shirt, pouring eggs into a frying pan.

“Morning,” he greeted. She turned around slightly surprised by his presence. 

“Hi!” she replied with a warm smile on her face, “I’m making breakfast.”

“I can see that,” he smirked, planting a peck on her lips. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Nope. You can sit there and drink your coffee,” there was a steaming cup of black coffee sitting on the table in the mug he had grown accustomed to.

He watched her prepare breakfast as she hummed along to the music lightly playing. His heart had never been so full. He imagined the rest of his life looking just like this. The two of them, living in domestic bliss, wanting nothing more than to spend time together. He couldn’t stop smiling. 

She plated the food and placed a plate in front of Bucky.

“What did I do to deserve all this?”

“Nothing. I just like you,” she smiled.

“So this doesn’t have anything to do with last night?”

“What part of last night are you referring to?” she winked at him.

“The nightmare,” he answered, honestly.

She let out a deep sigh, “Are you okay?”

He nodded, “I’m fine.”

“How often does that happen?”

He shrugged, “It used to be almost every night. But since I met you, it’s been less.”

“That’s good…Was that the first one you’ve had at my place?”

“Yeah,” he responded. He shoveled more food in his mouth, unsure of what to say next.

“What are they usually about?”

He swallowed, “Normally it’s flashbacks of my time as the Winter Soldier. But last night was different…”

She waited for him to say more but he didn’t. So she didn’t push him.

“Is there anything I can do to help you when that happens?”

“You don’t need to do anything.”

“James,” she looked deep into his steel blue eyes, “I want to help you.”

“It’s my trauma, I can deal with it.”

“Don’t you get it? We’re in this together now,” her tone was firm and it grasped his attention. “You don’t have to do this alone any more.”

He thought about her words and his mind kept going back to his secret. He wanted to tell her, he really did, but he needed her. He knew he was being selfish, but things were just so much better with her and he wasn’t ready to lose her yet. 

“What you did last night was perfect. Physical touch always helps bring me back to reality.”

She nodded, “If there’s anything else I can do, please let me know.”

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: ML Season 5 episode 5 Illusion

(Spoilers below)

-XY is me. I’m sick and confused by all the name changes

-MR. BANANA is an expert. But considering Bob roth is considered one too… He might be overqualified.

-Glad Alex is keeping the wigs

-Alex went from Simon to Paula in one season (for those that get that reference.)

-As always Mr.Banana is known for his Expert opinion. Truly the intellectual Paris needs at this time

-Plagg having fun with the alliance ring. Adrien being annoyed that he is an NFT

-I just realized how TERRIFYING this actually is for Adrien. He Litterally has no control of his image and voice. Before he was tricked in his ads, now… yikes my dude

-Adrien sounds so shocked that his father wants to see him in the kitchen

-I will say this, Adrien’s horror and confusion over seeing his father is the reaction I had in passion. I too would be very confused.

-Adrien right now

- Gabriel is so f***ing manipulative. My dude like I can’t.

-The only genuine emotion seems to be when he got burned

- Gabriel is actually really good at manipulation. If I didn’t watch the last 4 seasons I’d almost believe he’s trying to be genuine

-Alya’s theory about Fetch being used makes sense. We know better but it’s a nice idea.

-Nino being left out again. Pass my boy a bone please

-THE RESISTANCE! Nino my guy. I love you dearly. He planning a resistance group

-COMRADE MAYO! Adrien being the token White guy. I love it. Also @xhanisai probably frothing with joy over this

- Nino is shocked that Adrien can have lunch with them. I agree

-Baby boy never been to a cafeteria. That’s adorable.

-DAMN ADRIEN, you gonna kill that girl with your kindness

-Nino, can you give the boy one day to have lunch like normal?

-Nino being an absolute dork and I love it.

-Wait beurre Maître d’hotel (Butter hotel supervisor?) I think he meant butter. XD

-Chloé’s speed is super human

-Nino outted Alya and him to Adrien and Marinette (hilariously they both know)

-Alya is like wtf?

-Nino has a point

- Marinette is mortified tho

-Nino telling them Adrien knew, and Adrien being awkward

-Nino is taking Ls today

-oh and there’s Lila

-Marinette being feral protective

-Nino committing to the bit

-Lila posting social media pics of Adrien. That’s… so like her

-Damn, Nino picked up on the powers thing. He did that BY HIMSELF! Points for Nino. Respect the hustle

-Nino’s plan makes sense tho. But it is a dick move.

-Comrade Béchamel? Cool name

-Adrien really can’t have nice things

-Nino has a conspiracy board. Also I see Alya is rubbing off on him

-Nino is completely right. It is a stunt, but Adrien wants to believe it isn’t

-Nino realizing he went too far. That’s a good friend for apologizing

-And Lila overheard it and is probably gonna tattle

-I did like that quick exchange. Gabriel keeping his cool. But now he knows

-Gabriel acting like a parent… it’s so wrong

-And here comes the plan

-They had Marinette be the klutz. Did they seriously do the PIZZA BIT?!

-All over his White suit. Damn

-But no reaction. To be fair, He was expecting it. But only Marinette’s clumsy is experience

-Adrien… baby boy looks so awkward.

-Walks in, just Pastas his dad. Like not even making it look like an accident

-Now it’s Alya’s turn. I’m embarassed for all of them. Like Marinette could get away with it, because… it’s such a Marinette thing.

-Alya doesn’t even try hiding it. She’s like “this is dumb, yeet” no emotion

-I’m getting such squidward vibes.

-OH S*** He’s taking Adrien out of school. And for once… I can completely understand why. (The dietary food but was HILARIOUS tho)

-Nino went too far, I feel like Adrien is gonna be akumatized more than Gabe.

-Oh… Adrien can’t catch a break

-AND IT WAS A BIT! Gabriel you SOB

-GABRIEL YOU F***ing bastard! I hate and love how brilliant this is. It’s like Collector but crueler

-The plan worked… but it didn’t. Clever bastard

-WHY CAN WE SEE HIS EYES!

-So the bit allowing him to vanish is teleportation.

-Comrade Ketchup. Nino commits to a bit

-Monarch REALLY being petty

-Pollen, Nooroo and Kaalki… oh dear…

-AND CHICKEN! Noooo

-The rings make it so he doesn’t get I’ll from the effects!? Boooo

-he can use Sublimation to make himself INVISIBLE! Omg!

-“Grated Cheese?” “Plagg would be happy?”

-clever move monarch

-BUT NOT CLEVER ENOUGH!

-DEFEATED BY RATS! Amazing

-Dude just faked falling into the sewer.

-So pro, cool strategy, con beaten by sewer rats… I’ll say he broke even

-Magic lightning bolt? Nino honey… no

-But they did get to appologize to Gabriel but… Gabriel being manipulative

-COMRADE TARTER SAUCE. As funny as this is, this now makes the resistance useless.

-Gabriel you manipulative bastard

-This heartwarming scene brought to you by the letter M. FOR MANIPULATIVE F***!!!

-Nino added more sauces

-And Lila… now it’s detrimental

-Comrade sweet and sour oh! Cause she is TWOFACED. Clever 🙄

-And Tomoe is in on this but maybe more than we know

____________________________________________

8/10

I think it’s solid. It has some cringe but I thought the plans were clever. Nino showing how Alya has rubbed off on him is interesting. Though I swear Gabriel’s kindness is F***ing disturbing. And I’m loving it. Gabriel now is starting to feel more like a villain to me.

Adrien also getting some freedom is nice.

But it’s all fake. An illusion.

I am intrigued

[honeyabyss]

Phone calls after Mc returned to the human realm

Lucifer:

this man is stubborn, calling you would be like admitting he's gone soft and his pride does not allow that!

so he refuses to call for the first few weeks, keeping himself busy with work of which he has enough anyway

due to all his student council work, a few other tasks of Diavolo and on top of that the usual shenanigans of his brothers, he quickly becomes very stressed

he's at his breaking point and needs someone to talk to so he can release some of his stress before he takes it out on someone else

so he goes to your old room and starts talking as soon as he enters it, only to stop confused when he doesn't see you in the room, remembering only now you left for the human realm

disappointed he sits down onto the bed and curls the blanket around himself

"Their scent is almost gone...Soon it'll be as if they were never here"

he closes his eyes, sighs softly and makes his decision

"Mc? I hope I didn't wake you. I simply thought a conversation would be nice, it's been a while..."

Lucifer's call is pretty casual, he talks about his day, work and his troublemaker brothers, it almost feels like any other day before just this time it is over phone

he does not want to admit he misses you, a) because he'd seem weak and b) he fears what admitting it will do to him, he might just miss you even more

BUT while saying goodbye he accidentally lets a "I miss you" slip, his breathing stops shortly realizing his mistake, he is about to apologize when you say it back

he smiles softly, genuinely relieved about your shared sentiment and whispers "I'll call you again soon then" before hanging up

from then on he calls you every evening and you better jump right away and pick up at the first ringing, because this man is lonely without you

Mammon:

"Congratulations! You're one of our lucky winners of our monthly Devil-Lottery. We'll have to confirm your bank account number with the one given to us when you agreed to participating in the lottery. Would you be so kind to slowly repeat the number-"

this greedy demon will quite literally try to scam you, only to absolutely panic when you hang up on him

he will instantly call you back, constantly adjusting his glasses, a nervous habit he acquired over the years

"H-hey...Mc...uhm, it's me your favourite demon!"

he is relieved you picked up, as it means you didn't block him right away, he stumbles over his words trying to find an excuse why he just tried to scam you

"Ah you know I only did that to test you, you've passed nobody scams my human! You're my amazing human after all! That's why I love you...u-uh I-i mean...nothing...that was a static you must have misheard..."

when you tell him you knew it was him as you recognized his voice, he'll be outraged, screaming into his D.D.D (and probably later getting punched by Lucifer for being so loud)

"What do you mean you already knew?! You dared to hang up on The Great Mammon?

He gets a bit sulky by your reaction, so how about playing into his obvious lie of testing you to make him feel better again

besides trying to scam you Mammon also called to (not so sneakily) check on your wellbeing

now that you're gone he constantly worries about you and he can't do much to help, but if you were actually in need of help due to whatever, trust me he'd fight Lucifer himself for permission to go to you

he'll call you as often as he can, sometimes with a few days of a break in between, asking you about your life and also letting you in on his upcoming money making schemes...please don't tell Lucifer about them

Mammon has learned his lesson though, he'll never try to scam you again, he couldn't bare it if you were to block or ignore his calls

Leviathan:

phone calls? Why? You two can just talk about the in-game talk function of this new online game you play, but no real world talk while playing that ruins the immersion!

Levi will rarely call you as he just doesn't feel comfortable enough to talk with you about normie stuff for too long

he normally just spam writes you, ding, ding, ding, one message after another coming in without you being able to respond quick enough

so if gets too much and you decide to just call him so you can have an actual chance of responding, Levi just panics and almost drops his D.D.D

"Mc? D-did you accidentally hit the c-call button? N-no? I-i see no I love you too!!....AAAAAAAh I-i meant I l-l-love t-talking to you too...hehehe w-why would a yucky o-otaku like me say something like that"

poor boy is so nervous he'll say something stupid and will stutter a lot the first few times you call him, he is just not used to talking on the phone

he will laugh nervously over everything and sometimes there'll be a phase of awkward silence, but please don't point it out, Levi is already stressed enough as it is

once he gets used to calls, he'll surprisingly suggests to have a phone call while both of you are watching the new episode of an anime, so he'll be able to talk to you as if you're right next to him, which works out mediocre at first, you have to tell him to be a bit quieter a few times but besides that it's quiet nice

"Ooooooowhooooooah!!! Did you see that? That was amazing, I wish I had these superpowers, I'd save you of every danger like a real hero! W-what do you mean I'm already your hero?"

Yes, you saw and heard it, and your neighbours probably heard Levi...

on the rare occasions Levi calls you he'll often asks you for favours like to buy him this exclusively in the human realm sold limited edition game, of course he isn't like his scummy brother Mammon who'll constantly asks for things and he'll also make it up by sending you stuff you can only get on Akuzon

so calls don't happen very often, but neither if you really mind, you'll still be in contact through messages and games

Satan:

Satan will be very proper about calling you, he'll check through messages if you're fine with him calling you, so he can be sure you have time and he doesn't bother you

Satan never jumps into a conversation right away (unless he is angry), he makes sure to show interest in you and hold a bit small talk, asking about your day, how you're doing and so on

you talk about many different things with him mostly about your shared interests, but Satan is willing to listen to you ramble about hobbies he doesn't have as well

one thing you two quickly come to do was have book club sessions over phone

"I wish you were still here Mc. I miss my book discussion partner, nobody here has as interesting opinions and views as you..."

back in Devildom you two would both read a book and afterwards discuss your thoughts, and you found a way too keep doing just that

you both write about books, decide on one to read for the week and would than have a phone call where you just talk for hours about the piece of literature you've read

now that you're back in the human realm, the book choices are even bigger as you can read human books as well, you just have to send a copy to Satan, sometimes Barbatos will be nice and pick a book up and deliver it to Satan, or to you if it's the other way around with a demon book

"Oh? No, you're right. I haven't thought about it like that yet...your thoughts are so fascinating!"

Satan will shower you in praise for every little detail that you noticed yet he missed. he genuinely enjoys your phone calls, and though he wouldn't admit it, sometimes he anticipates your call more than the actual book

even though there now is a bigger distance between you two he still feels as close to you as before, not much has changed for him and he knows he'll be able to see you again soon, he'll just have to be patient

"Next week, same time? I'm looking forward to talking to you again. Take care until then!"

Asmodeus:

"Oh my Lord! You won't believe what just happened!!!"

no greeting or alike, just straight into the discussion

whenever something gossip worthy happens, Asmo is already dialling your number to spill the tea and keep you updated on any Devildom related gossip, even if it won't help you much, it's a nice thought of him keep you in the loop

those are only the spontaneous call though, obviously you can't take these all the time...you still have a life of your own...

you two actually call each other every day at the same time, plus/minus a couple minutes, the water in the tub has to be filled first...yeah Asmo likes to talk you while he is taking his afternoon bath

"Hahh it's so relaxing, warm water caressing my beautiful skin, and the bath bomb today smells so good! I wish you could smell it, or even better I wish we could bathe together!"

*water sloshing noises intensified*

Asmo...no....yes...maybe...just stop, you'll fluster Mc!

"No really! I miss having you here, I'll pamper you all day the next time I'll get to see you. You must already be starved of my beauty, but don't worry my dear, I'm just as starved of seeing your lovely face!"

what to talk about while he is bathing? Anything really if it's about your day, any complains or whatever, just expect a few innuendos of him...that's nothing new though

seriously though Asmo is the guy to talk to about any of your problems, he will listen and try to come up with a solution for you, even if he seems a bit narcissistic sometimes he really cares about you, so use your phone calls as therapy from time to time

"Oh darling, don't worry it'll be okay! I'm here to help...now tell me every detail so I can come up with a plan! I'll always be there for you, no matter what!"

Beelzebub:

"*munch munch* This one is really good! Mc you should try some...oh"

now that you're back in the human realm, Beels snack times are very lonely, he has just gotten so used to your presence, even sharing his food is normal by now

and let's be honest Beels snack time is 24/7 so he misses you a lot

he feels the urge to call you every five minutes and sometimes even forgets to eat while phone is ringing and he is waiting for you to pick up

but you can't constantly talk with him over phone so the calls often end up on your voicemail where Beel tells you about all the different kind of foods he ate that day

when Belphie catches wind of his twin constantly pestering you, he hides Beels D.D.D so he can't call you all the time

when you're actually able to pick up on his call, Beel will be so happy you can quite literally hear his huge grin while he's excitedly talking about his current snack

"Have you ever tried spicy bat-wings? There opened a new restaurant in town and it's really good!! Next time you're here I'll invite you there. Oh but what if it closes before you're back...ah you'll just have to visit soon!"

though Beel is often disappointed when you don't pick up, he would never hold it against you, he knows he calls quite a lot, but he just misses you and tipping a message while he eats is harder than putting his D.D.D on speaker and talking to you

of course he doesn't only talk about food, he also tells you about how his brothers are doing and how his workout was, or what things he has planned to do at the weekend, all in all Beel is just super happy to share everything of his life with you

on rare occasions he'll call you and be untypically quiet, that happens when he had a fight with his twin, it's not often but sometimes it happens and his first instinct is to call you, because he feels like he can tell you everything so he is very comfortable and trusting with you

"I miss you a lot, you know...but I also know that you think about me daily, every time your stomach rumbles you'll be reminded of me and that makes me happy, I also think about you every time I'm hungry! Hm? But I'm always hungry? That's right! You're always on my mind!"

Belphegor:

Listen, his sleeping schedule is very tight, you can't just expect him to call you!

he will call you so rarely and if you call him it might just happen that he is sleeping and has phone on silent...or he's just to lazy to walk to his phone, or he is just not in the mood to talk... he takes any excuse to not be on the phone

Belphie does like talking to you, but he is not the greatest at long conversations so he like messages more

sometimes when he can't seem to fall asleep, he will be the one to call you...in the middle of the night...and you better pick up or he gets annoyed

"What took you so long? I thought you wanted to talk more often and then you leave me hanging for a whole minute? Doesn't matter I would have waited longer with you...."

he is mostly silent through a phone call, his main reason to call you is because he like to listen to you talk, it's calming to him and if he calmer then he might be able to fall asleep again

so don't expect an amazingly deep conversation...

"Mhmmm...hm? Yeah I'm still there. I'm listening keep talking, I love your voice..."

he'll bring up a topic from time to time so you have an inspiration about what to talk about, but most of the times he just lazily hum or making acknowledging noises so you know he is still listening

"Zzz..."

he will to 100% fall asleep while being on the phone with you, that doesn't mean you're boring, but that he trusts you so much that he is comfortable enough to let his guard down

Diavolo:

"Good afternoon! How was the week of my favourite human?...ah don't tell Solomon I said that hahaha"

as the future king of hell, he is a busy man, but he still manages to give you a call once a week, to the same time you two would have normally had your weekly afternoon tea meeting in the castle

with the exchange year over there is not much about your classes to talk about left, but Dia is just as excited about any other topic you decide to talk about, be it the most mundane thing he loves it!

"Oh so you went grocery shopping? That must be fun! Barbatos does it all the time, though I suppose you buy less things...I'd like to see a human market at some point, I wonder if they're very different from ours...oh but I wouldn't really able to tell I suppose, Barbatos and you would need to point out the differences!"

this man can talk without taking a break for hours...you think Asmo is bad? Prepare for Diavolo...

but seriously it never gets boring with him, because he somehow finds good and fun stuff in every activity, I swear give him a vacuum and watch him clean you're whole flat with the enthusiasm of a child getting presents on Christmas

the work of a future king consists of so much paperwork, Dia will have only few events of his week to tell you about, if there is something to talk about there is a high chance it has to do with the brothers

so he'd much rather just sip his tea and listen to you, he'll ask you loads of questions though about anything he doesn't know

sometimes you two forget the time and Barb sadly has to remind you to come to a stop for now

"Mc? Did I wake you? If so I'm terribly sorry...would you be up to talk for a little bit more? I'm not feeling too tired yet"

surprise night time calls from Dia where you'll have to speak silently or Barbatos might reprimand Diavolo for staying up all night and being tired the next day, Dia doesn't regret it ever though, he likes to talk you a lot!

Barbatos:

Barbatos is always busy and his schedule can often suddenly change with a new whim of his master, so he can't exactly have a scheduled call with you

so you might not get to hear of him very often

BUT he made it a habit to call you when he is on duty to do the dishes, the chore is somewhat boring to him with no one to distract him

so he calls you and if you pick up, he'll put you on speaker and talk to you about whatever comes to mind while his hands wash one after another of the expensive porcelain of the royal household

"I've bought this new tea which is said to be really nice, it can even be enjoyed cold apparently. It seems to have to just the right amount of sweetness to not get bitter when drank cold...you can still add sugar for extra sweetness, though I believe you're already sweet enough as it is"

no matter what you decide to talk about Barbatos always has at least some knowledge about it, so it's beneficial for both of you, he can tell you the things he knows and you tell him your stuff

"I hope I'm not bothering you too much? There is quite a lot to do today... so it might take some more time..."

you will never get to know that Barb has actually already finished the dished a few minutes ago, but just isn't ready to say goodbye yet

the rest of the employees will be able handle the castle for a bit longer without him, meanwhile he can take a well deserved tea break and listen to you

he very much enjoys the fact he found a way to have some time with you while theoretically having to be at work, as long as he is able to finish all the tasks of his daily schedule, he doesn't feel too bad about his not so legal break

"I fear I'll have to get back to work now, but I loved talking to you today! I hope you enjoyed it as well. I'll talk to you again soon!"

Solomon:

Though Solomon returned to the human realm with you, you haven't heard much of him, being a wise old man sorcerer must be very time consuming

so calls of Solomon might be rare but that doesn't mean you don't write messages every now and then, when he calls you though it's always about something interesting or important to share, he talks about those things rather verbally, the best option for him would be in person, but that doesn't always work so a phone call is the second best option

"My lovely apprentice, how is your studying going? I've found the tome we were talking about last time you were interested in...it took some research to find which sorcerer had it but I brought it back for you. How about I'll drop by you next week? I can help you with your studying then, the tome is written in an older version of the language it might be easier if we do it together!"

Solomon can simply not sit still, so while you're on the phone, he is always tinkering at something and the background noises are sometimes quite peculiar...

Was that a pig squeaking? Are you sure you should be brewing a potion while being on the phone? Isn't it distracting?

Oh Lord was that an explosion?!

"Hmm? Oh yeah...I`m cooking dinner right now! It was just a small explosion though, you know the ones that are regularly happen in the kitchen. Why? Was my cute student worried about me?~ heheh alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you...for now!"

no matter how chaotic, teasing or busy Solomon is though, if you call him and are in need of help, he'll drop everything and run to you

he knows how hard it can be when studying magic, not to mention that the studies are difficult, the constant hiding of any magic in front of other humans is also very nerve wrecking, sometimes you feel like giving up and going back to your normal life, back to your non-magical very human friends that are blissfully unaware of everything happening around them, but you know you could never forget and act as if nothing happened, you'd also miss your new not so normal friends, so when times get hard Solomon will rush to you and comfort you in person or at least calm you down on phone until he is able to go to you

if that happens he is more likely to call you every two to three days just to check in on you

"Hey how is my strong and beautiful fellow human doing? Feeling better yet? Need a shoulder to lean on? I'm at your flat in 10 minutes..."

Simeon:

Simeon is a daily caller as well, he's gotten so used to seeing you every day that he feels quite restless if he doesn't get to hear your voice at least once a day

he asked you to recommend at what time he should call, he doesn't want to restrict you in your daily life, so you both came to the conclusion after dinner would be perfect, as both of you are free for the rest of the day then

He will often write a bit on his TSL scripts, just some notes and inspirations he comes up while talking to you

"How was your day my little lamb? You haven't overworked yourself right? Tell me if you ever need help!"

though Simeon would definitely have things to complain about with how Michael is working him to the bone, he'd rather not worry you so instead he tells you about how Luke is doing and evasively answers you questions about himself

"Oh me? Ah yes, I'm doing fine, just doing the usual archangel stuff you know...Ah please do not worry Mc, my dear! Nothing dangerous!"

over the time his TSL notes turn into random scribbles, rhymes and poems and every now and then something that looks suspiciously like your name

Sometimes Luke crashes the call and wants to speak with you as well so Simeon tries to put the phone on speaker only to end up ending the call and Luke getting frustrated with Simeon and doing it himself

then again Simeon also just accidentally hangs up on you mid conversation, because his fingers hit the button without him noticing, he'll get so confused when you cut off in the middle of your sentence and thinks something has happened to you, only to be relieved when you call back a few seconds later

Simeon is very interested in your day and how you doing, asking you many questions and encouraging you to keep talking

"Oh no please keep talking! You're not overwhelming me at all, in fact I like listening to your voice, it puts even the most melodic voice of an angel into the shadows...hahaha did I make you embarrassed? I apologize, I didn't mean to, I was only telling you my honest opinion!"

Simeon is quite the flatterer, but he often does not notice it, he simply tries to be nice, so a call with him leaves you flustered and stuttering ever now and then, but he is just as quick to blush at a honest and heartfelt compliment

Luke:

Luke might be an angel, but he is still low ranking and therefore has less assignments, besides studying to become a great angel and doing some minor tasks for Michael, he is relatively free

he often spends his free time in the kitchen constantly trying to improve his baking, now after the exchange year not only to impress Michael and Simeon but also Barbatos, maybe a bit Beel and definitely you!

but as Simeon is still working at these times, he gets somewhat lonely so he'll try calling you to keep him some company

Luke has this habit of speaking the recipes out loud to remember the steps better and be able to able to make them from memory, he got that tip from Barbatos, but he still has his moments where he gets stuck and forgets what to do next, you can notice that when he gets silent and concentrates on trying to remember

"Ah right that was it! I almost forgot about the eggs! Good thing you were here...or well on the phone hehe! You always remember this stuff, you're so amazing!"

when you tell him you simply looked it up in the internet for him, he'll get a bit sulky that he now basically cheated, but with your reassurance that he is already great and can remember so many other steps, he is quickly back to his happy little angel self

"Michael let me help with his conference today I was assistant record keeper today, one day I'll be able to do it alone, bit they're talking so much and so fast...I think I still need a couple centuries until I'm fully ready, but I'm working on improving! You should also try to improve your skills daily! Even a small bit of practice is good! Though I think you're perfect already!"

Luke most definitely learned his flattering from Simeon... he talks about many different things on the phone but repeating topic is Michael...just talking to you makes his day and later he'll tell everything Simeon and he smiles so brightly while he reports to him, please keep talking to him a lot!

[mauesartetc]

Hi Maue! Bless you for this account, it’s helped me so much in developing as an artist… sorry for adding onto your already-stuffed askbox, but i was wondering if you could help a little with some character design stuff i’m going over?

If not thats fine👍

but uh if so there’s this family of edwardian anthro dogs i am working on. Robbie was born into the family and married Shelley to keep up appearances, and Shelley married him as she could present as a woman and be greatly elevated in financial status. they adopted susan, and robbie’s in a rather unstable relationship with Some Girl/Guy named ernie…robbie is kinda taking advantage of his status and political importance to do whatever he wants. He is not really a good person and i am kindaaaa poking fun at a few billionaires with his character. shelley is a woman who is rightfully angry at her husband being a awful guy and just wants a normal life while still trying to appease her husband so she doesn’t have to deal with the consequences of getting on the wrong side of royalty, susan’s some strange child who thinks robbie and shelley are cool but sorta starts to realize something’s a bit funky about them. anyways so i was wondering how i’d instill motifs of animals other than dogs in these dogish-creatures that relate to their personality whilst still keeping them a canine species, and also how if you have any tips on conveying info through clothing in character design..or any other thing you think i could change with their designs for the better…

sorry if this was rambly and have a good day👍

Ooh fun! To start with, it’d help to figure out which breed of dog each character is based on and work from there. Once you put a specific name to the appearance you’re looking for, it gets so much easier to find visual references for it. (And yes, visual references will very much be your friends, especially in the early stages of character design.) Judging by these character sheets, we’ll want to link Susan with reptiles and amphibians, Robbie with barn owls, and Shelley with shelled creatures. But first, some general notes:

I’ll admit I straight up forgot cereal was a thing in the Edwardian era (which covered the period from 1901-1910 for anyone unfamiliar), so the fact that Robbie inherited a cereal company kinda threw me for a loop. But yes, cereal had existed for decades by that point, though based on my research (see above), they didn’t advertise with animal mascots like the owl in Robbie’s ref. A lot of ads just had illustrations of consumers enjoying the food or holding up the package, along with a paragraph or two explaining why this brand is the best choice. (And yeah, I know Cream of Wheat’s not cereal, but it’s breakfast food so I’m counting it.) If you want to be historically accurate, understand that companies back then had very different approaches to branding from how they handle it today.

Speaking of accuracy, I’m no historian but I’m pretty sure Edwardian folks wouldn’t use the terms “asexual” or “transgender” to describe themselves. Not sure if you’ve written these labels into your story’s dialogue, but it’s worth mentioning just in case. Also, I’m not sure what the blue and white flag represents-? I searched all over for it but didn’t get any results. The placement next to the ace flag led me to believe it was some kind of pride thing, but even the more exhaustive lists didn’t include it. Some clarification would be nice. 

Robbie’s description says he’s “very gender conforming” yet he squeals when he’s pleased? Wouldn’t that be considered a pretty effeminate thing to do? I’ve never heard of a single “man’s man” who’d (voluntarily) raise his voice to such a high pitch on a regular basis. Just sayin’, you’ll want to be sure your descriptions are consistent. I also did a double take at the fact that he’s nearly a full foot taller than Shaq, but depending on the average height for this species in this time period, it might be easier to buy. (Fyi, the average height for men who turned 18 in the Edwardian era was around 5′4″, and even shorter in previous years.)

Now for the redlines:

Something I noticed consistently in these drawings was a lack of body structure, as if the character’s outlines were drawn first without an understanding of internal volume or how things fit together. There’s also a tendency to draw characters’ eyes on the sides of their heads, as if they’re fish rather than dogs. A carnivorous land mammal would have front-facing eyes that resemble wedges in profile. If the characters have a solid construction, it’ll be easier to build on it when dealing with symbolic motifs and such.

About those motifs, it helps to gather photo reference of whatever you’re trying to represent in the design, and get a sense of the shapes and colors that comprise it.

It also really helps to get specific. We already know Robbie’s associated with barn owls, but Shelley and Susan are more open ended. If each of them had to pick one (maybe two) species of amphibian/lizard or shelled creature as their favorite, which would it be? Or, which species most closely resemble their own personalities? Narrowing the field to one or two animals will help focus your research.

The next step is figuring out which elements you want to use, and where. This depends on how subtle or overt you want the symbolism to be.

Basically, the more cells you check off in a chart like the one above, the more noticeable the symbolism will be. If you want to use only shapes or only colors, or only use symbolism in the accessories and body, for example, you’re free to do so. It’s also important to note that symbolism in certain locations in the design will be more noticeable than in others. Let’s say you wanted to use a crablike orange for Shelley. If you used it to color a small accessory (like her bracelet), the tie-in would be pretty subtle. But if you used it to color her face, the place on a character our eyes are most drawn to, it’d stand out like a neon sign. 

There’s a sliding scale of subtlety in individual parts, as well. It’s up to you to decide how closely you want them to resemble the original source. Here’s what happened when I experimented with the doggos’ ears, with the resemblance ranging from subtle to overt:

It’s all relative to what feels right for the character. Hope this helps!

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Collar x Malice Unlimited Yanagi Aiji SS Day After Talk

I’d assume that this story came in one of the booklets that were bundled with the game... but I have no idea which one. 

as always, my translation may not be 100% as I do not translate from Japanese.

Collar x Malice Unlimited Yanagi AIji SS Day After Talk

translation by KumoriYami

"I'm full, dinner was delicious today."

"Hehe, it was just some simple food, ah, let me clear up the table."

"You made almost the entirety of dinner, so the dishes again be cleaned up by you."

"...Thank you, then we'll do it together."

Seeing her shy smile, the corner of my mouth also curled upward unconsciously.

——At this time, we normally have dinner at my house or the office, but today Ichika said that her parents sent wine from her hometown, so I came to trouble Ichika's house.

"Anyway, is it really okay for me to take the rest of the wine back?"

"Of course, I don't usually drink by myself, so if it's at Aiji-san's place, I can accompany you for a few drinks when I go there for dinner."

"In that case, I'll take it then. It's great that your parents' attitudes changed too."

"Well....Perhaps that's thanks to Ajii-san, because my parents really care about saving face, so maybe they're intending to curry favour.. "

"Well, don't belittle yourself, things will be fine."

"It's as you say, sorry, I tend to do that without realizing when talking about home/family."

"I understand what you're thinking, but it doesn't matter since I'm here."

I handed the dishes I washed to Ichika, and she wiped them dry with a towel.

Seeing her solid [the term here is more "secured "] smile, I once again felt that it wonderful for me to be my girlfriend's moral support.

——It wasn't that long ago, that I formally proposed to Ichika. After completing the marriage application, we went to her hometown to visit her parents to ask for their permission.

Her parents were more respectful/earnest than I expected but they didn't appear to be superficial.

Besides, I wanted to prioritise Ichika's mood, so as long she and her parents were able to decently get along, there was no need to force them together. After all, the way the two of us spend our days peacefully was more precious to me than anything else.

"Um... Aiji-san."

"Hm?"

"Um, tonight.... do you want to stay over?"

"....Where's Kazuki?"

"Nn... He's staying at Isshiki-san's place today."

"Then there's no reason for me to refuse."

"That's great! I'll make some dishes that go well with alcohol later, would you like to try some other flavours of nihonshu [Japanese sake]?"

"That's a good idea, sake from Niigata [a prefecture in Japan] taste good, and the one we drank over dinner wasn't satisfying."

"Ah, then you need to take a bath first, I'll get the hot water ready!"

"Hm... but there's no need for you to be in such a hurry...."

Before I could finish speaking, she slipped on her slippers and ran away excitedly.

…….Although it was a common occurrence, her adorable reactions always made me want more.

(This was really challenging my rationality.)

Rather than what's hinted at from staying overnight, it would be better to say that I was looking forward to certain things.

But not all the time since if she found out what I was thinking, I'd feel extremely embarrassed.

Which is why I try to act as indifferently as much as possible.

(.......However, as things stand right now, I'm afraid that that the fact of  how I'm not a rational person has been exposed long ago.)

It would be better to say that recently, she's been exploiting my entanglements and desires to tease me more often...

Although we've been dating for so long... No, it's precisely because of how long our relationship has gone on for, that there's this offensive and defensive battle everyday.

(To others, we're probably lovestruck fools, but this process of seizing the initiative is also quite fun.)

While I was thinking about this, I finished washing the dishes and sorted out the seasonings to put back on the shelf, I suddenly thought of something.

"Aiji-san, the hot water will be ready in ten minutes, and as for the snacks that go well with sake——"

"Say, Ichika."

"? What is it?"

"Let's take a bath together."

"……………….What!?"

Once I finished saying that, as I expected, her eyes widened and her face looked shocked.

Although I was already satisfied from seeing her expression that like that, as these opportunities seldom came, I still wanted to try it.

"You're quite shocked, wasn't your proposal earlier like this."

"Eh... this... um..."

"The bathroom here is quite spacious."

"Aiji-san, are you drunk?"

Ichika's face turned scarlet, and she lifted her head to fiercely stare at me.

......This was a bit unexpected, and her adorable expression made me feel wonderfully jealous——I absolutely could not let any other man see it.

I smiled as I slowly approached her, but the way she kept taking steps to retreat somewhat made me feel heart-broken.

After retreating all the way to the wall like this, I gently approached her.

"It's impossible to get drunk with that amount of alcohol. If you're not willing, it's fine to forget it?"

"That sort of question is too unfair... just wait you, let me think...!"

After saying that, she pushed me out of the way and ran out of the kitchen to sit down on her bed, and stared at the sheets in anguish.

Seeing her serious expression, I truly sympathized, since I had a similar experience, which was from the "suffering" that came from choosing between reasoning and desire.

(Did I overdo it with the bullying...)

However since she didn't immediately reject my proposal, that was already a large enough opening.

But since I was feeling somewhat embarrassed, I was lost in thought as I sat in the living room and stared at the TV. About five minutes later, she stood in front of me.

"Sorry, as expected, I'm still... feeling shy..."

"Nn...I always feel a bit sorry for Kazuki."

"Speaking of which... Aiji-san, are you deliberately teasing me?"

"How could that be? I truly do want to take a bath with you."

"Ugh... Although I really do want to challenge myself..."

From the way she was whispering, I smiled and comforted her by saying "don't force it." At this time, the thermometer on the wall made a pleasant sound. It was the beeped to indicate the hot water was ready.

"The water's ready, I'll wash up first."

At the same time, to express my apologies, I gently patted her head.

Seeing how Ichika had a bit of regret on her face I went into the bathroom.

(......I got carried away again.)

After slapping my face with water, I let out a loud sigh.

I've really had less in control in these sort of situations lately, and while I still had some self-awareness, I however would always get carried away, and needed to reflect on it for now.

I told her before that I was originally a conservative person, and didn't like trying anything new.

It could be said that I was a complete blockhead, even if someone asked "what do you want to do with your love", I wouldn't have any special answers for that sort of question.

But now... if there's something that she wants to do, or if there's something that will make her happy, I want to do it for her without having any regrets.

After all, my intention for doing these sorts of things, was just to see more of her various expressions.

(To get over this.... No, although it's a bit strange to evaluate myself that way, I guess that I've started doing things that match my age.)

But even so, if I do something that distresses my lover, I still need to reflect on it.

While I was thinking about this, I lowered myself into the bathtub full of hot water, and tried to wash my troubles away in the water——

"Um... Aiji-san."

"Hm?"

Suddenly, I heard her voice in my ears, and at the same time, I shifted my gaze towards the bathroom door.

——The bathroom door slowly opened.

"....HA!?!? You..!"

"......Can we take a bath together?"

"......."

I lost to her.

That surrender-like word passed through my mind.

Her tempting figure wrapped in a bath towel appeared outside the door, and she secretly glanced at me.

The long hair which was coiled behind her head, her bare shoulders, and her fair legs, all caught my attention.

"....Is it no good?"

She would have rushed in without saying anything, this was definitely revenge for my earlier actions...

"No, don't worry about those trivial things, hurry up and come in, you'll catch a cold just standing there."

"Nn, thank you."

Did she get rid of her feelings of embarrassment? Or did the reason for her hesitation disappear while I was in the bath?

I don't know what she thinking, but she appeared very calm, and obediently waled in and closed the door behind her.

"Um...can you stop staring at me so much?"

"No, since you've already come in, just give up."

"I'll take a bath first, so please turn around and don't look!"

"I understand, I'll pretend I didn't see anything, don't worry."

"...Are you upset?"

"A bit."

"Hehe, this is payback for your ill intentions just now."

"I think that's...."

As I spoke, she turned her back to me and unscrewed the switch on the shower head.

If I keep staring at Ichika's back, as I've always thought of myself as a pervert in this aspect, I had to move my gaze towards the ceiling to fight against my secret desires.

——Shortly after.

Ichika re-wrapped herself in her bath towel and sat down in the tub. And since there was one more person, a lot of the water in the tub overflowed.

"This is a bit embarrassing/shameful [the word I have here is "to lose face"]..."

"What?"

"Whenever the water spills over, I always feel that it exposes my body's weight, and it might be better to say that it's because I'm too fat..."

"Pfft... no, you, that..."

"Why are you laughing at this!!"

"Rather than that, why aren't you worrying about something else?"

"Eh... do you mean like skin care or something?"

"Why did the topic change to this..."

A woman's heart is really complicated. Perhaps, when I invited her, she was worrying about things that I could not understand as a man.

"Also, don't you think you're too unfair?"

"In what way?"

"Only you are covered."

"Uhm... even if you say that..."

I deliberately showed her a dissatisfied expression, and Ichika lowered her gaze in a panic. The bathroom immediately became silent.

In this silent bathroom, I heard her response.

".....Aiji-san, even though I didn't resist my curiosity and rushed in like this...."

"Hm?"

"I however have absolutely no idea about what should come after..."

"You... it's obvious that I can't resist you at all..."

".....Nn, sorry."

"Even if nothing happens in the bathroom, it won't change what the next location is."

However, since things have reached this point/stage, there was nothing to worry about.

Anyway since there was no one else here, and there was only me and her, only we could see each other.

(In fact, we had already been interested in each other for quite a while, haven't we.

In this narrow bathtub with nowhere to escape to, I slowly extended my arm towards Ichika.

When my wet fingers touched her cheek, she trembled like a frightened deer, and I chuckled at the way she looked.

"Alright, will you obediently come over here?"

".....Okay."

Even if my brain was still thinking rationally before I touched her lips, we couldn't soak in the bathtub for too long.

——But, once you feel the warmth of the other party, the string called reason/rationality in my mind instantly snapped.

I think this offensive and defensive battle will likely never end.

------end------

[beauvibaby]

Purple and Yellow – j.oleksiak

• Jamie Oleksiak goes through heartbreak and challenges along with his daughter but then he meets a woman who seems to catch both their hearts •

a/n: ok this is NOT proof read at all I’m sorry but I knew if I went back and did that I’d end up hating it and not wanting to post it but I know y’all wanted it so here you go!

Word Count: 6.1k

Jamie knew he was going to Seattle, and he’d be lying if he said the proposition didn’t excite him, but once his name was inked on that paper, reality came crashing in. He had to up and move his daughter, she was only three, maybe it wouldn’t be that hard. But who was he kidding, everything is hard with a three year old. And how would he explain that they wouldn’t be able to visit mommy every weekend, just like they did every weekend since. That’s all that plagued his mind as he drove home from the airport, Ivy was waiting for him, but he knew she’d succumb to her sleepiness before he could get there. His parents already texting him with a picture of her half asleep on the couch.

Then, the cars on the other side of the road slammed on their brakes, the sound of tires spinning out made everything come rushing back.

“Is this the father of Ivy Oleksiak?” Jamie didn’t even have a chance to speak before the words came across the phone, “yes, who’s speaking?” Jamie replied, heart rate picking up at the soft sigh the woman let out. “Your daughter and Miss Cora Hadley were brought into Medical City from a car accident scene.” All she said were those words before he was rushing to his feet, “are they ok?” He asked quickly, never getting a pair of shoes on so quickly in his life. “Sir, I’m not–“ “Bullshit! Is my baby and my fiancé ok?” He snapped, based on the way she whimpered, a rather young woman on the other end of the line. “Your daughter will be fine, just some scratches, the car seat did it’s job.” She spoke slowly, her breath hitching. “I think it’s best you get here as quickly as possible.” She spoke carefully, and in that moment Jamie’s heart fell to his feet like an anchor, he could feel his stomach twisting and his eyes burning. He knew what those words meant. Then he thought of Ivy and that snapped him out of his daze, he had to get there, now.

Jamie pulled into his driveway safely this night, parking beside his parents car, a sigh escaping his lips, forcing the terrible memories from two and a half years ago away. He gathered his bags, and lugged them inside, smiling at his family all asleep in the living room. That made him forget that oh so familiar ache in his chest just a little bit more. He put his bags in the corner, those could wait, but right now all he needed was to hold his baby girl. He scooped Ivy up, smiling as she fluttered her eyes open just enough to see him. “Daddy.” She murmured, “hi bug.” He inhaled the scent of her toddler shampoo, his mom always taking care of her hair the best, brushing the detangler through the unruly hair she got from her father. “Sleep with you.” Ivy whined when he started heading for her room, normally he didn’t give in, not wanting her to be dependent on him to sleep, but he needed her tonight too. “Just tonight princess.” He gave in, bringing her to his room with him, where she fell asleep instantly when he placed her on the plush bed.

Jamie laid awake, staring at the ceiling for a little while, thinking of how he would tell Ivy about having to move. “I hope you’re proud of me.” He whispered out, his tears staying pooled in his eyes as he forced himself to calm down. “Sleep daddy.” Ivy complained, nuzzling closer to him. “Hold me.”

“Jamie.” Cora whispered, hoping he was awake despite the late hour, he grunted in response, being a light sleeper ever since he found out Cora was pregnant. “Hold me.” She demanded with a light tone, her back aching and stomach bulging as Ivy kicked around in there. Jamie blindly opened his arms for her, letting her settle into his chest. “Always.” He murmured, already half asleep as she sighed in content.

“Come here baby girl.” Jamie murmured at Ivy, letting her rest her head upon his chest, Ivy was a very cuddly little girl, the second she was comfortable with you, she’d be sitting in your lap and telling you stories and anything to be touching you. It was one of Jamie’s favorite things, especially when he came home from a roadie and all she wanted was to be held by him.

***

“Daddy!” Ivy called, she managed to climb onto the bathroom counter to brush her teeth but now she was too scared to get down, “daddy!” She shrieked again, Jamie’s eyes fluttered open as he quickly took in his surroundings, “daddy, I stuck!” Ivy called, this time sounding annoyed by his lack of response. He threw the blanket off as he knew where she was stuck, this was a common occurrence. He appeared in the bathroom doorway, arms crossed over his chest, “and just what do you think you’re doing?” Jamie asked his daughter as she made grabby hands for him, she grinned brightly at him, “I brushed my teeth!” She answered in a duh tone, she grabbed his face once he scooped her up, kissing the tip of his nose, and he the same to her, “I’m very happy you brushed your teeth, Ivy, but you know you’re not supposed to get on the counter, that’s why we got you a stool, remember?” He explained, for easily the tenth time in the past month. “I know.” She huffed, dramatically pushing her hair back, making Jamie chuckle as he walked down the stairs, hearing his parents talking in the kitchen.

“Well, good morning sleepy heads.” Alison teased as Ivy gasped at the sight of pancakes on the counter, Jamie shook his head with a smile, placing her on the seat beside his dad, “I’ll make you a special plate.” Richard quipped to the little girl, which really just meant drawing a smiley face on it with whip cream. “Thanks mom.” Jamie gave his mom a kiss on the cheek before shuffling around to get his coffee, desperately needing the sleep kicked out of his system. “When are you going to tell her?” Alison asked, taking a small bite of her food, giving her son the side eye when he hesitated. “Today.” He gave in, knowing he absolutely had to start packing now, otherwise it would never be done in time. “So, Ivy, do you have any plans for today?” Alison shifted her attention to her granddaughter, figuring they could take her out to do something so he could get more done. “Gonna go see momma!” She cheered, some syrup smeared around her mouth.

Jamie froze, it was Saturday already, he checked his phone and felt humiliated that he had forgotten his promise to take Ivy to the cemetery. Evidently the panic was written across his face when both his parents stared at him. “Why don’t grandma and I bring you? We haven’t been there in a while.” Richard offered, rubbing Ivy’s back when she looked to Jamie for permission. “I think that would be nice, right baby?” Jamie finally found his voice, and Ivy nodded brightly, anytime she got with her grandparents was cherished. “Daddy coming to?” She asked, tilting her head as he sipped on his coffee, “I’ve got some work to do, alright, I’ll go next time.” He assured her, shooting his dad a thankful look as he quickly changed the subject before she could pester on any further.

“Ivy, I need to talk to you.” Jamie announced, he couldn’t wait any longer, he had to do it and be done. Alison nearly choked on her coffee and Richard looked at his empty plate like it was suddenly the most interesting thing. Ivy nodded, munching away on her pancakes, not understanding the severity of what was about to be said.

Jamie cleared his throat and pulled out the chair beside her, “you know how I had to go away to this new place for work, yeah?” He reminded her, “Seattle.” He said, and she nodded, “Seattle.” She repeated, not entirely perfect but good enough. “I got a job over there.” He spoke, waiting to see what she thought. “Hockey?” She asked, confusion lacing her tone. “Yes, still hockey.” Jamie chuckled softly, “it’s with a new team.” He paused, glancing away for a second, “we have to move there.” He concluded. Ivy nodded slowly, “new house?” She asked, she might be young, but she knew that moving meant not in this house. “Yeah, new house, new city, new people.” Jamie explained, panicking when she went wide eyed, “what about uncle Ro-Ro?” Ivy asked, referring to Miro, she was closest to the young defenseman as she always saw him beside her dad on the ice. The nickname had been dubbed upon him when she was learning to speak and liked to repeat things. “We can visit, baby.” Jamie spoke softly, heart breaking as she began to sniffle. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head, he knew the realization was coming. “But Momma!” She sobbed.

And that completely shattered his heart.

“I know.” He picked her up, feeling her sob into his neck, “momma.” She whimpered, though she didn’t remember her, Jamie made sure to keep her an important part of her life. Ivy didn’t know that she loved going to a gravestone that much until this moment. “Hey, look at me, bug.” Jamie demanded gently, situating her to be in front of him. He sat her on the countertop and stood in front of her, “momma will always be with us, right? Isn’t that what I always say?” He explained to her. Ivy nodded slowly, she was so young but always acting older, trying to wrap her head around this. “Yeah.” She mumbled sheepishly, cheeks red and eyes puffy, she felt shy under the gaze of her grandparents. “It’s alright, daddy’s sad too.” He assured her, lowering his head to be eye level with her. She stared into his eyes, reminding him so much of Cora in that moment, and once again she kissed the tip of his nose. “No sad daddy.” She demanded, drumming her fingers on his cheek. He pecked her forehead, “alright baby.” He agreed, if she could do it, so could he, right?

***

Ivy slept the whole plane ride, which is what Jamie was hoping for as they would be meeting the moving truck at the new house, plenty of things to be done asap.

“Come on Ivy.” Jamie mumbled, carrying her off the plane as she groggily woke up, looking around slightly confused until she remembered what was going on today. “Daddy, Seattle?” She asked, lifting her head from his shoulder, he chuckled, lowering her so she wasn’t so high up on his chest. “Yeah, Seattle baby.” He assured her, her pigtails bouncing as she looked around rapidly. He smiled at her reaction to the airport alone.

“What do you think, Ivy?” Jamie asked, raising his eyebrows as the three year old spun to face him. “Love it!” She squealed, her room was twice as big in this place than her bedroom in Dallas, and Jamie told her she could pick whatever color (within reason) to have her walls painted. Of course she would love it here. Jamie looked around their new-but-empty-house one more time, sighing as he could picture Ivy growing older in this house.

Time to make it a home.

“Hi.” Ivy grinned up at one of the movers as he placed a stack of boxes in her room, Jamie just being outside the door heard her speaking, he raised an eyebrow waiting to hear the guy speak. “Hello.” The young guy spoke sweetly, chuckling at the little girl. “I’m three.” She spoke, “how old are you?” She asked, Jamie held in a snicker as he walked in. “Ivy, leave him alone, bug.” He laughed softly, the guy taking it as his excuse to go get more boxes. “Ugh.” She huffed, flopping down on her bed dramatically, Jamie rolled his eyes, looking around. “What color do you want?” He asked the opinionated little girl, he sat beside her, smiling as she stood next to him, being eye level with him. “Hmm, purple!” She gasped, looking around the currently beige room, Jamie nodded slowly, “light purple.” He countered, knowing she would want to choose the darkest shade. “Fine.” She giggled, “we can go tomorrow, alright? Today we need to focus on finding all your stuff.” He tickled her sides.

***

Ivy was tugging on Jamie’s hand, somehow spotting the paint section quicker than he could. “Slow down!” He laughed heartily, his daughter shooting him a glare as he purposely slowed his feet down. He hoisted Ivy up to see the purple swatches along the top row, she reached for a dark one, just like Jamie knew she would. He sighed, “Ivy, we agreed on light purple, what about this one?” He offered, grabbing a lavender type color, she grunted in disgust, shaking her head dramatically, her blonde curls hitting his face. “Love this one.” She pouted, holding it in front of his face.

Jamie held in a sigh as you walked past him, stopping to look at paint swatches as well. “What about this one?” Jamie compromised, it was darker than he wanted to go, but still light enough to not feel like a dungeon. Ivy’s lip began to quiver, quickly catching both Jamie and the woman’s attention. “Ivy.” Jamie sighed softly, you intervened, “you know, I wanted a dark purple room when I was your age too.” You spoke to Ivy, catching her attention as she lifted her head, Jamie shifting slightly, giving you a smile. “My dad wouldn’t let me do it.” You made a face, getting a giggle out of Ivy, “he was right though, but guess what we compromised?” You mused, holding your hand out for the paint swatches that Jamie had. He handed them over with ease, “we painted one wall, dark, the wall I had my bed on, and the rest we did light.” You explained, Jamie giving Ivy a bright smile when she looked at him like it was the greatest idea ever. “We can do that, Ivy.” He agreed, and you giggled, “glad I could be of help.” You added.

“Thank you,” Jamie paused, waiting for a name. “Y/N.” You told him, smiling at the pair, “and your name is?” You asked, already figuring the little girl's name was Ivy. “Jamie.” He introduced himself. “What are you painting?” Ivy asked boldly, not one to talk much around new people, Jamie set her down so she could look at other colors, amused by her sudden interest. “I’m painting my dining room.” You answered, squatting down to her level, “do you have any color suggestions?” You asked Ivy. Jamie gave you a look that said you really don’t have to entertain her but you just gave him a smile. “Yellow.” Ivy announced, looking at the wall and grabbing actually, a very nice swatch, it was just yellow enough. You tilted your head as you looked at it, imagining it in your space. “That’s a very pretty color, Ivy.” You told her, smiling brightly as she blushed, handing you the color sample. “Thank you, Y/N.” She spoke politely, even though the words didn’t come out perfectly, it was a great attempt. “You’re welcome.” You stood to your full height, shocking Jamie by walking over to the counter to order the paint, no hesitation that a random little girl picked it out.

“You don’t have to-“ Jamie started to say, but you shrugged, giving him a happy smile, “I just got a new place, a fresh start, yellow seems fitting.” You told him. Jamie gave you a lopsided smile, if only you knew he was doing the same. “Daddy, this ones.” Ivy gasped, giving him two swatches, he chuckled at her grammar, squatting down to her level, “you’re sure?” He asked, he knew after all it was just paint, and if it turned out so terrible, they could paint over it but he didn’t want to have to do this twice. “This one looks like momma's dress!” Ivy explained, Jamie looked at the dark purple in his hand, instantly remembering Cora in that dress, Ivy’s favorite picture of her that she kept in her room. Suddenly her color choice made sense, you couldn’t help but eavesdrop, your heart stopping at Jamie’s next words. “Yeah, I think momma would have loved this.”

Was she… dead? You tried to knock the thought from your head, they were so young, but you knew accidents happened. You quickly looked away as Jamie stood back up, “here you go ma’am.” The teenager behind the counter spoke, you took the gallon from him, shooting him a smile. “Have a good day.” You told him, offering Jamie and Ivy a wave. “Will I see you again?” Ivy asked, Jamie nearly had heart failure right there as you stopped and giggled. “Oh I don’t know sweetheart, Seattle is a really big city. But don’t you worry, if I ever see you out and about I’ll be sure to say hello.” You assured her, watching as she got all giddy and slightly hid behind her father again. “Bye.” You told him, biting the inside of your cheek to keep from smiling any wider. “Bye, Y/N.” He mumbled, seeming a little dazed as he made his way up to the counter.

***

It had been nearly a week in the new house, the walls were done, almost everything was unpacked and they were starting to feel a sense of normalcy. Jamie loved the neighborhood they ended up in, a true mix of all different people, yes their house was rather large, but it was still homey. The community was sprawling, having a little bit of everything, stand alone homes, townhomes, even some condos, there were plenty of kids around which made him feel good about his choice as he followed Ivy down the road as she rode her bike. “Slow down, Ivy.” Jamie cautioned as she was getting a good bit ahead of him, she huffed dramatically and slowed down, waiting for him to catch up. She was looking around at the houses, confused as to why they were attached, even though Jamie had explained it to her plenty of times. Ivy gasped so loudly, that you could hear it from your front lawn where you were spray painting a piece of furniture. You glanced over and did a double take.

There was absolutely no way, you refused to believe you were actually seeing this, then you saw Jamie and you were convinced the universe either loved you for letting you see him again, or hated you, as you were in ratty old painting clothes.

“Ivy!” You grinned, laughing when the little girl flew off her bike, letting it fall sideways, making Jamie groan, “hi Y/N!” She squealed running up your lawn. You smiled brightly as she hugged your leg, “Ivy.” Jamie called, giving you an apologetic smile but you shrugged it off. “Did you paint your room?” You asked the little girl as she pulled away, a pink tint to her cheeks, she nodded, her blonde curls bouncing in her ponytail. “Yay, that’s great!” You cheered, Jamie walked up behind her, “hi, Y/N. How are you?” He asked, his daughter leaning back against his legs as you two spoke. “Good, been busy making this place my own.” You laughed, motioning to the small townhome behind you. It was your first solo place, and you absolutely adored it, even if it needed some work. “Yeah, you always forget how much work it is moving into a new place.” He agreed, chuckling softly. “Did you do yellow?” Ivy asked, rocking on her feet. “I did.” You assured her, “would you two like to go in and see it?” You asked, cringing internally as you waited to look up at Jamie. “Sure.” He answered, grabbing his daughter's hand, following you inside.

You led them to the dining room, giggling as Ivy gasped, “so pretty!” She cheered, the yellow paid off, it made the space feel much more happy. “All because of you.” You told her, she asked if she could look at the pictures you had sitting on the entry table and you gave her a quick nod, giving you and Jamie a chance to talk. “Same neighborhood? If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were stalking me.” You teased him lightly, getting a hearty chuckle out of him. “It is quite the coincidence.” He agreed, he felt butterflies in his stomach for the first time since he had met Cora.

It absolutely terrified him.

***

It had been a few weeks since that day, and you’d seen Ivy outside playing with another woman, Jamie not to be seen. You came out to grab your mail as she went riding by, “hi, Y/N!” She called, continuing to pedal away. “Hi, Ivy.” You spoke, you went over and introduced yourself to the girl, Taylor, finding out she was her babysitter. “Jamie must go out pretty often.” You commented to her, she shook her head, “oh no, he never goes anywhere without Ivy aside from work.” Taylor told you, “he plays hockey, I'm surprised you didn’t know that.” Taylor added, smiling as Ivy came up to the two of you. “We should be going, it’s almost dinner time.” Taylor spoke, she couldn’t be older than 20. You gave them both a smile, “yes! You don’t want to miss that.” You chuckled, bidding them a goodbye before going inside and googling Jamie.

What you found shocked you.

Jamie Oleksiak taking personal time to mourn loss of fiancé.

Jamie Oleksiak, will he be able to balance a professional career and a baby?

Will he bounce back from this?

You clicked the first article, bracing yourself as it loaded.

The date was from almost three years ago, you scrolled down and began to read…

Jamie Oleksiak has announced the sudden passing of his fiancé, Cora Hadley. Together they shared a daughter Ivy, who was also involved in the incident, she is expected to make a complete recovery.

A close friend tells us it was a severe car accident.

Our condolences to the family.

You clicked away from the article as tears burned your eyes. That was terrible. You read some of the other articles and only grew mad at how the reporters belittled his pain, only talking of how poorly his game play had been since then. And though you’d never wish that kind of loss on anyone, you know they wouldn’t be writing like that if they had felt it.

***

You and Jamie exchanged numbers, citing that it was for “neighborhood emergencies” you giggled at the thought as he was currently asking you what he should get Cora for the upcoming Christmas.

She’s the pickiest three year old ever, everyone always tells me that.

Well, what does the pickiest three year old ever like to do?

She’s either riding her bike and getting absolutely filthy or she’s inside playing dress up and being a little princess

Princess car?

They make those?!?

Oh, Jamie, I really need to take you shopping 🤦‍♀️

Tell me when and I’ll be there…

You tell me hot shot, you’re the one that plays hockey for a living.

How did you find out?

Google is a powerful thing… just kidding, Taylor told me.

Of course she did

Saturday afternoon? My parents will be in town and they want to take Ivy out for the day, so it’s a perfect excuse.

You know where I live, see you then!

He started typing, but then the dots went away and you never received another message.

You brushed it off, feeling butterflies in your stomach for the first time in years as you thought of merely shopping with Jamie for Christmas.

****

“You like him!” Your friend gushed to you as you spoke on the phone while getting ready, “no!” You rushed, only proving her point more. “Y/N, really.” Your friend, Amanda, spoke. “There’s nothing wrong with that, he’s clearly attractive and he’s a dad! He’s not going to be a jerk that just messed around with girls! It’s great.” She rambled, you sighed, pulling your jeans on with a little jump, “his fiancé died, Amanda. He could very well not be over that yet, and I wouldn’t blame him.” You explained, she went silent, “well you left that part out, how was I supposed to know.” She mumbled sheepishly. “It was almost three years ago, their baby was only six months old.” You whispered, cursing when your doorbell rang down the stairs. “Shit, shit, I have to go Amanda!” You rushed, hanging up as soon as she said bye. You adjusted the sweater you had on as you rushed down the stairs, careful not to fall flat on your face. You grabbed your purse as you walked past the counter, yelping as you stumbled and landed on your butt. So close.

“Y/N? Are you alright?” Jamie called, hearing the thud, “yes, yeah, just a second.” You called out, wincing as you stood up, that was definitely going to hurt later. You finally, finally reached the door and unlocked it, pulling it open and giving him a bright smile. “Did you fall?” He asked instantly, bursting into laughter when your face went blank. “We’re not going to talk about that Jamie.” You chastised, stepping onto your little porch to leave with him. “Sorry, sorry.” He chuckled, giving you a once over as you locked the door. “Is Ivy excited to be with your parents today?” You asked him, Jamie laughed under his breath, “so excited, she didn’t even care that I was going out.” He told you as he opened the passenger side door of his truck for you. “Thanks.” You mumbled as you slid in, your heart pounding in your chest. He shut the door and made his way around the truck as you adjusted in the seat.

“So, where to?”

****

Jamie was shocked and grimacing at the price of the princess car that he and you both knew Ivy would love. “Is she the type to give up on new toys quickly?” You asked, tilting your head as you both stared at the display, he shook his head as gave in. He had been leaning against the shelves and as he walked away you noticed his phone had fallen out of his pocket, you picked it up so no one would steal it as you waited for him to come back with a cart, and hopefully someone to help him with the box because it was not something you’d be much help with. His phone began to ring in your hand, the contact flashing across the top said mom, you let it ring, you’d tell him as soon as he came back. As soon as it stopped it was ringing again, you panicked and swiped to answer it, worried that something had happened to Ivy. “Hello?” You spoke into the phone, hearing Ivy wailing in the background. Fuck.

“Who is this?” His mother rushed, “I’m Y/N, Jamie forgot his phone he’s walking around the store– is everything alright?” You asked, cutting straight to the point, “no, we’re going to the emergency room, Ivy fell at the park and I think she broke her arm.” His mother rushed, and thankfully you saw Jamie approaching, “Jamie!” You shouted, rushing over, he furrowed his eyebrows seeing you on his phone.

“It’s your mom.” You rushed, giving it to him and you could see the wheels turning in his head as he listened to her speak over Ivy crying. “Shit, alright I’ll meet you there.” He told her, shooting you an apologetic look. “Go.” You assured him, he shook his head grabbing your hand and pulling you along, he wasn’t going to leave you stranded in a department store. “Sorry, he’ll purchase it another day!” You called to the employee who had a blank look on his face. “Let me talk to Ivy.” Jamie demanded after his mom had said something else, “daddy, it hurts!” Ivy got out between cries as his mother held the phone to her ear. “I know, princess. I’ll be there soon alright? I promise.” He assured her, finally releasing your hand as he realized he’d been holding it this whole time.

He managed to get off the phone so he could drive to the hospital, repeatedly apologizing for you being stuck with him and that this happened. “I was going to take you to lunch and ugh I’m just sorry.” You raised an eyebrow at his ramblings as you guys got stuck at a red light less than a mile from the hospital. “Jamie, stop apologizing. She’s your daughter, she always comes first, that’s how it’s supposed to be.” You soothed him, he glanced over at you, nodding softly, “reschedule the lunch?” He asked, despite the panic in his head, he still wanted to make sure you saw that he was interested in you.

“Yeah, we can reschedule, let’s just go see your baby.” You leaned over the center console, kissing his cheek as the light changed, doing a little happy dance in your head at how he blushed deeply at your actions.

“Family only.” The nurse remarked as you were about to follow Jamie to the room Ivy was in. He gave her an incredulous look, “it’s fine, go.” You assured him, pulling away from him to stay in the waiting room. He hesitated but went along, disappearing behind the doors as you picked a seat in the corner, making sure you had a sight line to the doors he went through. Over an hour went by as you sat there, scrolling through your phone, not hearing from Jamie, which you assumed was because he was being bombarded with questions of the girl who answered his phone, while also dealing with Ivy who was not going to enjoy the process of getting a cast.

Your phone chimed with a text just as you had finally decided to get off of it,

Finishing up now, sorry if my parents are a lot

You chuckled at the message, making sure you had all your items, including the little stuffy you’d bought at the hospital gift shop during your time sitting here. You stood up as you saw them walking out, Ivy draped over Jamie’s chest, half asleep with her head on his shoulder. “Y/N, it’s so nice to meet you.” His mom spoke, offering her hand, you repeated the sentiment, as well as with his dad. “Ivy.” You whispered, placing a hand on her back, holding the small stuffed animal in your hand, “I got you a little gift for being such a big brave girl.” You mumbled, she shifted to look at you with her puffy eyes, and pout settled deep on her lips, “thanks.” She whispered, taking it and holding it close to her chest, she kept her eyes on you as you walked behind Jamie, keeping up a conversation with his parents. And he was right, they were kind of a lot, but you pushed through, smiling when Ivy finally fell asleep in the car.

You sat in the back with Ivy, Jamie insisting you didn’t have to but you wanted to. “She handled it pretty well.” Jamie commented as he glanced back to see her asleep with her hand in yours. “She’s a tough little thing.” You agreed, glancing over at him, he gave you a heartwarming smile. “Thanks for coming with me today, I know it didn’t go to plan, but it was nice, you know… before she broke her arm.” He trailed off, pulling into your driveway to drop you off. You carefully pulled your hand from Ivy’s, she didn’t budge as she was exhausted from today.

Jamie got out to say goodbye, surprising you with a quick kiss to the cheek and a promise of that lunch date.

***

“Did some research?” You asked teasingly as Jamie took you to your favorite restaurant, you gave him a sideways glance as he parked the truck, “I may have had some assistance.” He shrugged, making you realize that’s why Ivy was grilling you the other day, when you had offered to watch her since Taylor was unavailable. “You two are trouble.” You quipped, watching him slip out wordlessly before opening your door for you. “But I’m a gentleman.” He reminded you, “a very good one at that.” You agreed, steadying yourself with his shoulders when you hoped down. “I’m going to kiss you now.” He declared, had you not wanted to kiss him so badly you would have teased him for the nervousness in his voice, but you simply looped your arms around his neck and let him sweep you off your feet with a wonderful first kiss.

The first of many.

***

Two months, and many, many, sneaky dates and stolen kisses later…

You were over at Jamie’s house, having dinner with him and Ivy, you and Jamie had gone out here and there, but most of your time was spent together with Ivy, and that’s what told him that you were the girl he needed to hang on to. Jamie wanted to take tonight to explain to Ivy that you two were dating, but he was scared, petrified even, that she would become upset and confused. You kept telling him nothing had to be done yet if he wasn’t ready, but he was, he swore he was.

“What’s your favorite color?” You asked Ivy, dinner was long gone and you were playing a game of twenty questions, she wasn’t entirely aware of that but she was having fun nonetheless. “Purple! Like my mommas.” She declared, you gave her a smile, glancing over at Jamie to see how he handled it. Many conversations had happened between you two about the loss of Cora, you never wanted to rush him, and as he only gave Ivy a proud smile, you could tell he was truly ready to start the next chapter of his life again. You liked to think Cora was proud of him, for choosing you to be in their life.

“What’s yours?” Ivy countered back, giving you an inquisitive look, the closer she got to age four, the more like Jamie she seemed, and it always made you chuckle. “Yellow.” You told her, watching as she grinned, Jamie winked at you as you turned sheepish under their gaze. “Because of me?” Ivy gasped. “Yes, because of you.” You giggled, welcoming her hug when she bounced over to you. “Ivy, do you know what it means when people are dating?” Jamie asked his daughter as she stayed seated on your lap, she rested her elbows on the table, holding her head in her hands. “No but you said I’m not allowed to do that.” She spoke in a serious tone, sending you into a hysterical fit of laughter, not expecting her to be so blunt. Jamie tried not to but he joined you with a deep laugh, tipping his head back as Ivy grew impatient. “Ok, besides that.” Jamie cleared his throat, “when I say I’m dating someone that means that I really really like them and I want them to be part of our life.” He explained as best he could, you smiled from behind her at his words. Encouraging him to go on.

“Y/N and I are dating.” He spoke officially, you both held your breath as you waited for her reaction, she turned and looked at you, and then back to her dad. “You love her!” Ivy grinned, sending Jamie wide eyed and you into a wide smile as he blushed, “you love my daddy!” Ivy gasped turning to you, now he was the one grinning as you opened and closed your mouth trying to find the words to say. You gave her a nod, “well, it’s a bit more complicated than that when you’re our age, but yes.” You agreed with her, Jamie grabbed your hand from across the table, giving it a squeeze as Ivy climbed off your lap and started dancing around.

This had gone so much better than he had hoped.

When he was tucking her in that night while you were waiting for him on the couch, she said a few words that made him one hundred percent sure that everything was going the way it should, and that Cora even played a hand in this. “Can I have two favorite colors daddy?” Ivy asked, looking up at him sleepily as he pulled the blanket up her body, she was clinging to the stuffy you’d bought her. “Of course, bug.” He assured her, thinking that was that, but as he kissed her forehead she said, “purple and yellow are my favorites.” By the time he pulled his head back, her eyes were shut and her breathing was evening out. “Yeah, I think those are my favorites too.” He whispered.

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